Scotch on the Rox
by thedraconicwerewolf
Summary: Sora, an 18-year-old high school graduate orphan, is working at a Destiny Island bank thanks to no small effort by his best friend. It's admittedly just simple life with only a simple pay, but it's all about to become rather complicated when he receives a strange message while taking a temporary escape from a company party.
1. Improper Business Ethics

Hello everybody! For those of you who know me through my other stories, welcome back. For those of you who just came here, welcome to one of my stories. This is a new story that I suddenly came up with and decided to work with. It's been a while since I've had spontaneous ideas that actually look and feel like they will work, so why waste the chance?

Also, I will be trying to put in some amount of humor to this story. Adding humor to stories isn't really something that I have tried before, so I figured that this one would do since it's practically a wild card in my head with no set ideas. So sorry in advance if my humor moments don't really work out or don't even sound like humorous moments to begin with.

Naturally, the first chapter won't be very eventful simply because it's the first chapter. I promise you all though that if you just stick with it and be patient, you'll be seeing some action pretty soon. After all, what would any of my stories be if they didn't have even a small yet good piece of action in it? And by action, I mean like fighting and tense moments action.

Now that that's all out of the way, I'll let you all go ahead and read the new story. Please don't forget to leave a review once you're done reading! They really do help me to better the story if anything is off or wrong.

Oh, and just as a little side note, I'll also be using different kinds of speech here. In other words, I'm going to be using:

"Regular speech"

_Inner thoughts of a character_

**and talking on th****e computer.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Improper Business Ethics<strong>

"Alright, I just got this one last transaction to finish up and I'll be done for today," a young-looking person with amazingly spiky brown hair said to himself with a sigh as he typed away at the computer in front of him. He was right now in an office setting where the computers were all aligned in neat rows as if they were desks in a high school setting. Other people around him were working on the computer and most likely performing the same mundane tasks he was currently engaged in. "Hope the Radiant Garden National Bank isn't closed right now, or the boss will be down my throat for missing the deadline."

With that thought muttered out, the person stole a quick glance at the wall to his left and up to the many clocks lined against it. All of them stated different times and had a different name underneath it. Apparently, each different time represented the exact time that it currently was at that particular area. He looked at the clock marked as Agrabah and saw that it was a quarter before seven there. He then gazed back at the clock on his computer and saw that his timeframe was currently a quarter before four.

With the time now confirmed, he rolled up his blue button-up work shirt sleeves and began to type away, most likely copying whatever data was present on a piece of paper that was resting right beside him. He was so absorbed into completing his work that he failed to notice he accidentally knocked a pen off his desk that happened to bounce off his semi-loose blue jeans held up by a leather belt before falling soundlessly onto the carpeted gray floor next to his red and white sneakers.

"Just need to put in this last zero and… Done!" the person exclaimed silently to himself as he pressed the enter button and stopped typing. He had a big smile on his face, and his brilliant ocean blue eyes shined with accomplishment. "Now if I know the guy on the other end, he should be coming back right about now!"

And as if on cue, some words started to appear on the computer screen as if they were being typed by some invisible figure. They were orange words placed on a pure black backdrop. On the very top of the screen were the words, "Destiny Island National Bank". Apparently, the person he was just making a transaction to earlier was wanting to strike up a conversation with him on the company server, and he was expecting it.

**Hey Sora,** the person on the other end greeted in a rather stoic attitude. **It's been a while. How's everything going on your end?**

**Eh, as good as it's ever going to be,** the person now known to be Sora responded back with a smile approaching his lips. **And how about you, Leon? The last time we talked, you were having some girl problems.**

**I decided to give up on that,** the other person assumed to be Leon answered back in a rather stoic attitude. Even though they were simply just talking through a computer, the teen was able to read the exact emotions being portrayed through them. He did not know why he could do that; he just figured it was a gift he was given and discovered ever since he first started chatting through online means with his friends back in high school. **In fact, I'm giving up on them altogether! They are so hard to please and to get some alone time with since they love to travel in packs. I think I'm going to try my hand at men instead.**

**Well, guess I better welcome you to the club!** Sora typed with his smile quickly changing into a smirk.** Didn't think things got that bad for you in terms of love. I never tried going on a hunt for girls, so I can't really help you out if you want advice or want to know if it's easier to be with guys. And don't even think about asking me for a date, because I'm not the kind of guy who'd go for a long distance relationship and hope we have a chance to meet sometime during my crazy life.**

** As if I would ask a fresh-out-of-high-school guy like you for advice on dating or even for a long distance relationship,** Leon responded with a scoff most likely meant to mask whatever amusement that was originally behind the words. **I still don't believe it when you said that you're only eighteen and already working in a bank with something as delicate as electronic money handling and transactions. Just what are the people over there at your international bank thinking?**

** And yet you still chose to believe me when I said I was gay during one of our little chats that somehow strayed onto the topic of relationships,** the teen responded back with a light scoff and roll of his eyes.** Don't you think picking what details you want to believe and taking out others that you don't seems somewhat to be of an information bias? That's what it sounds like to me, Leon.**

** Whatever, Sora. I'm still not going to believe you until I see you with my own two eyes. Of course, that'll probably only happen after I die and become a ghost. Anyway, I got to get going. Radiant Garden International Bank is just about ready to close, and I need to get ready for my first date with a guy.**

** And before you bug the hell out of me the next time we talk, his name is Zell, and we both decided to give it a try seeing as we're both friends since middle school and giving up on dating girls,** the other added quickly as if trying to avoid a bombardment of questions in future computerized conversations.** I'll talk to you the next time we end up working on a transaction. And no, I won't give you any kind of juicy details about my dates if and when you ask for it. End trans.**

With those last two words typed in, Leon had officially signed out of his end of the communication link. With his smirk still planted on his face, Sora leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head, not caring if he had accidentally hit someone passing by behind him in the process. He had just heard more than he had asked for and was happy with the results of their conversation. That and the other already had him down for the kind of person he was within the last few talks they had over the month.

"Hmm, looks like somebody caught wind of something pretty juicy from one of their international bank friends," someone from a neighboring desk stated with amusement laced in his words. "Mind sharing it with me, or is it something too private that even you can't tell your very best friend of many years?"

Turning his attention to his work neighbor, he saw that the person had long silvery flowing hair down to his shoulders that was not even tied together at some point to seem at least somewhat contained. Like Sora, he was wearing a button-up work shirt, but it was black instead of blue. His black pants along with his black work boots completed his ensemble. For those who did not know him, they probably would have thought that he was one of those emo people just by the way he dressed.

"Well, Leon just said that he was going to try his hand at dating guys after suffering from too many girl troubles," the brown haired teen responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "I just simply welcomed him to the club. And he also said that he's going to go on his first official date with another guy that he says has been his friend since he was in middle school. Don't you think that sounds kind of interesting, Riku?"

"Heh, I never thought the guy you pegged as stoic would ever think about crossing the fence," the man known as Riku responded with an amused smile quickly approaching his lips. "I still don't understand how you can read people's emotions to an exact point when just talking to them through the computer."

"It's just a talent I only realized I had when I first started chatting with my friends online. And before you say anything, they were all chats like the one I just had. No face-to-face camera talks or anything like that."

"If I honestly didn't know you during our time in the orphanage, I would be thinking that you're a freak of nature. Then again, you were the kind of eccentric guy when I became eighteen four years ago and forced to leave the orphan system. And speaking of which, when are you going to properly thank me for actually landing you this job through my rather persuasive mouth to the boss that almost ended in disaster?"

Before Sora had a chance to respond to the other, a strong voice suddenly cut into the office setting. Amazingly enough, nobody seemed deterred by it, but being that he had only been here for a couple of months, it still bugged him.

"Mr. Hikari, do you mind seeing me in my office now?" a tall and tan man in a neat business suit with yellow eyes that looked like it could pierce into the soul of whoever they laid eyes on. His hair was the same color as Riku's, but it was cut short. "There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"No problem, Mr. Kuroi," the teenager responded with a wave at the man standing by an open door towards the back of the room. He then said in an undertone to the silver haired guy, "Just because you're four years older than me doesn't mean that I'm obligated to be thanking you anytime soon for helping me get this job. Then again, you are my first and best friend from my time at the orphanage, so maybe I'll think of something."

"You better get to 'Lord' Xemnas before he gives me an opportunity to change that 'maybe' of yours into a 'will'," Riku threatened in a playful manner as he pointed with his thumb back to the office where the man first called out from. "I told you to not keep him waiting after he calls for you unless you want to get fired."

With a quiet murmur that was undistinguishable, Sora got up from his seat and felt the bottom of his foot step on something. Seeing that it was the pen he had unknowingly dropped, he put it back on his desk before making his way to Mr. Kuroi's office.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" the teen asked once he was standing next to an open door that had the words "Mr. Xemnas Kuroi" on a copper plaque. His eyes gazed upon an office setting with a wooden desk situated towards the back of the room. It had a computer and a desk lamp on top of it and was kept neat. A couple of landscape pictures were hanged over the left wall while the entire white wall was made of glass that allowed the man to overlook the people working on the computers.

"Why don't you go ahead and have a seat, Mr. Hikari?" Mr. Kuroi suggested rather bluntly as he pointed at a chair across from his desk where he was sitting behind. "There's something that I'd like to discuss with you."

"What seems to be the problem?" the brown haired teen asked while trying to sound as professional as he could for a high school graduate. It was kind of hard for him to do, however, since he perceived the man's oval face to be somewhat intimidating. "I doubt you called me in here just to have a nice casual chat."

"You know that I run the Destiny Island International Bank like the well-respected business that it is," the man started to explain without really addressing the teen's inquiry and ignoring his smart aleck statement. "After all, any company that deals with the amount of money like us needs to keep a certain reputable image in order for the general public to trust us. As such, I expect that all of my employees conduct their business in a professional and equally respectable manner. Do you agree with me on this?"

"I agree with you on this," the other responded in a tone that he hoped would butter up his boss and thus lessen the blow of what was to come. "A company can only be as reputable and successful as the employees that are working diligently within it."

"Good, that's the kind of mindset I like my workers to have. Now I have a question that I would like to ask of you," he continued on as he produced a long sheet of paper from somewhere behind his desk. He then said with his face hidden behind it, "Do you know exactly what it is that I'm holding right now?"

"I'm guessing it isn't the flowchart depicting the ups and downs of the stock market and how it'll be affecting our transactions," Sora responded with a rather cheeky smile in an attempt to cut away at the rather serious atmosphere. "Even if it were, I doubt that you'd be talking to me about something like that."

"Don't be smart with me, young man. The only reason why I hired someone as young as you is because of your impressive understanding of banking operations and how to make sure any and all transactions are done accordingly. And just as easily it was for you to get this job; I can easily take it away from you. In fact, you should consider yourself the luckiest guy in this business that you're still working under me.

"This sheet that I have here is a transcript of the transaction communications that you yourself have participated in the past two weeks," Mr. Kuroi continued on without waiting for any kind of response from the teenager. "I decided to have a read through everybody's, and yours seemed to stand out quite a bit from the others."

"Oh, that kind of sounds…nice," the other responded nervously while lightly chuckling to offset that behavior. "However, I'm not sure whether I should be happy hearing that from you or feel nervous at what you're going to say next."

"If I were you, I'd choose the latter. You see, I see a lot of professional transaction talk and the confirmation of successful transactions. After that, you're supposed to type in 'End transmission', or 'End trans' for short. Instead, I see that you continue on with idle conversation that has nothing to do with any kind of banking operatives."

With a moment's pause, the man poked his eyes over the paper to see if Sora was going to say anything. Instead, the teen simply sat quietly with a nervous smile on his face and waited to hear what was coming next. In his mind, however, he had a feeling just what was really on that long sheet of paper.

"For example," the boss continued on as his hid his face back behind the paper and began to quickly skim and paraphrase what was typed on it, "you talked to a banker named Zidane in Hollow Bastion two weeks ago about what you and he had in common growing up as orphans. The next one is from last week where you gave the banker from Traverse Town called Yuna a recipe for steamed chicken and pork dumplings with a side of savory turnip cakes. And then there's the one that you just participated in five minutes ago where you talked to another banker at Radiant Garden who you call Leon about relationship troubles and personal love life choices. I can only imagine what other kinds of conversations I'll find if I dare to poke even further into your transaction history. Do you mind telling me just what exactly does all this have to do with _standard_ banking operations?"

"Uhhh…, it all has to do with getting to know one another on a better level and keeping our overall morale up?" Sora stated in a questioning tone with a shrug of his shoulders and a nervous chuckle. Mr. Kuroi, however, seemed anything but amused with the situation presented before him. "Us bankers here sometimes get bored easily, and a little bit of a distraction every now and then helps to keep us on track longer."

"Look, I'll be the first to admit that you are a well attentive and very productive employee," the boss admitted with some reluctance that was clearly reflected in his soft sigh of annoyance. That and he clearly did not like the explanation that was just given to him. "However, all of this unnecessary banter with others through company computers doesn't reflect well with your overall professionalism. It's not helping with this bank's overall professional standing. If you don't stop with your personal conversations during work hours, do you know what's going to happen with your job?"

"Uh, it'll be end transmission for me?" the brown haired teen responded with that same nervous laugh now accompanied with a nervous smile.

"Despite how poor tasting that joke was, you're absolutely right. So from now on, you better say goodbye to all the bankers you do transactions with when you're done, or you'll be saying goodbye to your job. Now hurry up and go back to work. You still have a couple more hours before we close shop."

"Y-yes, sir!" Sora quickly spat out before turning around and leaving his boss's office that was filled in his opinion with nothing but an air of tension. Once he was outside, he let out a heavy sigh that he did not know he was holding in.

_Boy, I didn't think that things would get that hairy in there,_ he thought as he stood up straight in order to try and fool anybody passing by that nothing was wrong. _Honestly though, what's the real harm in talking with other bankers in other worlds? I doubt I'm going to get much of a chance to travel outside of Destiny Islands, so this is the closest I can get to that. And how am I going to hurt this bank's reputation? It's not like people from the general public are suddenly going to be able to see what I'm talking about._

"So what did the boss want to talk to you about?" Riku asked as he "conveniently" walked past Mr. Kuroi's office door and put his arm around the teen's shoulders. This effectively snapped the other out of his rather deep thoughts with a slight start. "Did he call you in to say how much of a great worker you were?"

"He said a whole lot more than just that," the brown haired teen responded as he allowed his shoulders to slump now that he was talking to one of the people in the entire business that he trusted with his true feelings. "After he complimented my work, he went on to say that I shouldn't be striking up regular conversations with bankers from around the world with the company computers. I mean, come on! How does he expect us to keep our sanity without a little bit of chatter among peers every now and then?"

"Well, you do have to admit that you were kind of breaking the rules there in using the company server to talk to other bankers," the silver haired man stated as they stopped next to a water machine and took a paper cup next to it. "Then again, I really ought to hand it to you on how you managed to rig your computer with the company's satellite in order to watch television on it. Guess those computer classes you decided to take on the year I left the orphanage really paid off for you, huh?"

"You better believe it, buster!" he replied, his mood quickly lightening up as he playfully punched at Riku's arm. Unfortunately, the arm he punched was the one holding a now full cup of water, and the jostle forced his arm to jerk and spill half of it onto the carpet. Thankfully, it managed to miss hitting his shirt, although a wet spot on a black shirt would have been virtually invisible if it had made contact. "Oops, sorry about that, Riku."

"Honestly Sora; you gotta start growing up! Couldn't you tell I was holding a cup of water here? You're just lucky I didn't decide to go for some hot water, or I'd be chasing you around this area if it ended up burning the hell out of me."

"Hey, just because you're done with college and all that doesn't mean that you can't have a little bit of playful fun every now and then. Anyway, the boss said I better get back to work. We still have about three hours before this bank closes, and I still have some transactions that I need to get done."

"Knowing you, you're probably going to spend half of that time watching some old cartoons from your childhood or something," Riku playfully teased as he refilled his half empty cup and made sure to stay a somewhat safe distance away from his friend this time around. "You could never sit still for ten minutes and finish something simple. I still can't believe you got caught talking on the company computer to other bankers and not for watching shows on the same computer you rigged."

"Guess I'm just naturally lucky that way," Sora responded as they made it back to their respective desks. "If all I did was work all day, I might as well turn myself into one of those busybodies who have no life of their own."

"Thanks for saying that I don't have a life, Sora," the silver haired man answered back with mock hurt before returning to his business on his computer. "Life's just not too exciting enough for me to think about outside of work. Then again, I'm talking to the guy who has a very distracted mind and can't stay concentrated unless it's something really interesting. Speaking of which, when was the last time you really stuck to something until the end?"

"Hey, I stuck to a bunch of stuff to the end after you left," the brown haired teen retorted as he took a piece of paper from a manila folder in his desk drawer and laid it flat on the surface. "How do you think I managed to get this far in life without your help? And no, I didn't completely bullshit the entire time in high school."

"I never said that you did," the other simply said before dropping the matter entirely and quickly becoming immersed into his work. "I only said that you didn't really stick to one thing when you were little."

"But that's what you were implying when you said it!" he countered and receiving only the sound of fingers tapping away at a keyboard as a response. He already knew that he was not going to get an answer at that point seeing as how the other was already fully concentrating in his work. When he got like that, that meant that nothing and nobody could distract him unless there was some kind of disaster like an earthquake or fire blazing around him. And seeing as there was clearly nothing else to talk about, the brown haired teen simply continued on with his work, his chocolate brown eyes keeping track of where he was on the paper while his fingers did the work. And he kept with the work, no breaks or trying to aim for entertainment, for the next couple of hours.

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><p>Well, here's the start of the new story for all of you. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I had making it. Sorry again if the humor isn't very good or is just not striking you all to be anywhere near funny. This is my first time writing a story that will have attempts at regular introductions of humor in it.<p>

Don't forget to leave a review telling me how I did. I always read them and take them into heart, unless they're pointless flames or flames disguised as constructive criticism. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!

By the way, here's a reference on the ages of the characters introduced thus far, both main and minor, for those of you who are curious.

Sora: 18 (yes, he's young and working at a bank)

Riku: 22 (young, but already graduated from college)

Xemnas: 50 (just plain old and an inflexible boss)

Again, it's just on here for those of you who are curious and feel it makes the story better if you know their ages. Until next time everybody!


	2. From Farewells to New Beginnings

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story! I know that it's come out pretty fast, but I didn't want to leave you guys on the first chapter. The main reason is because some people tend to give up on the story after reading the first chapter and not finding it to be that interesting. The only thing I have to say to those people is to just be patient. Since when have any of you heard of a story that automatically jumped into the action without any sense of building up to the scene?

Anyway, that's enough of my pointless little rant. With this second chapter now up, you readers should be able to now get a base feel of what's going to happen during the course of the story. And just as a little reminder, let me post again how the conversation pieces will be produced in this story.

"This stands for person-to-person speech."

_This stands for the inner thoughts of the main character, a.k.a. Sora._

**And this stands for communication through the computer.**

Hope this doesn't confuse you all in the long run, because I've already explained it twice. And for those who don't bother to read author's notes that might sometimes hold something important to help understand the story a little bit better, it's your problem if you don't understand. Wow, this is what I type when I have a lack of sleep...

Well, now that's all out of the way. I'll let you all enjoy this new chapter. Please leave a review after you're done reading. I always found it funny how a lot of people go about putting my stories on their favorites list, but they never bother to review. I'm not trying to stockpile on reviews, I just want constructive criticism on how people think my stories are coming along. So if you could put aside a couple of minutes to at least say how you like the story, I would really appreciate it.

Until my next update on this or any of my other stories everybody! Also, sorry if the title for this chapter sounds sucky. I couldn't come up with anything better that would reflect the events that are to take place in this.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: From Farewells to New Beginnings<br>**

After spending almost an hour and a half working in front of his computer, Sora finished up the last of his work and leaned back in his office chair with a content sigh. Now Mr. Kuroi would have no reason this time around to try and find some way to get him in trouble. Just at that moment of relaxation, however, he saw some words pop up on the screen coming from the person he had just finished doing transactions with.

**Hey Sora; what's up?** the person on the other end typed in. **Can you believe it? We're practically next door neighbors in terms of where we live, yet we both can't find the time to really meet up. That really sucks. I mean, Destiny Island is basically a short yet expensive gummi ship trip from here at Hollow Bastion.**

** Hello to you, too, Zidane,** Sora typed in with an amused smile on his lips at how down the other person was feeling for no good reason. **You know why we can't see each other. You told me that you're having a tough time being nineteen and trying to work in order to pay for your ever expensive college tuition. I haven't even started yet, but I have to save up for my college. So anyway, how's**…

Before he finished up his thought, he suddenly remembered his conversation that he had with his boss a few hours back talking about his conduct when dealing with the aftermath of transactions. He was right now treading on thin ice today with him, and he did not want to be fired simply because he refused to not engage in pointless banter.

**…Sorry, but I got to end trans,** he typed in rather regretfully and stopped his end of communication. He half expected for Zidane to have responded back and why be cut off so suddenly, but he was surprised to have received nothing instead. Apparently, the other person figured that something important came up and had to take care of it immediately. Either that or he also suffered from the same serious talk with his boss and knew why the communication had to be abruptly cut off. Either way, the other banker did not pursue the matter.

"Let me guess, one of your buddies tried contacting you and you were forced to uphold your end of the promise you made with Xemnas," Riku stated from his position at his desk as he looked at the spiky brown haired teen's slightly depressed face. "It's practically written all over your face right now."

"But I can't really help it here," Sora responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Zidane's one of my great friends that I have a potential to meet up with sometime in the near future. That and he's an orphan just like me, so I can connect with him better than the others. He's also just a year older than me."

"Great, sounds like a match made in heaven," the long silver haired man responded with a small shake of his head. "I can only imagine the kind of trouble you two would get into with your combined computer prowess."

"Wow, how'd you know that Zidane was also good with computers?" the teen asked in amazement.

"Uh, you kind of need to be good with them if you want to land a job at a bank as the person who oversees the exchange of money from one land to the other. It's one of the required things tagged with the job description."

"Everybody, may I have your attention please?" Mr. Kuroi's loud voice was suddenly heard throughout the large room. Every worker stopped what they were doing and saw him by his office door slightly leaning against the railing with his hands. "As you all know, Ms. Aerith Gainsborough will be leaving our wonderful little company tomorrow. As such, today shall be her last day working with us. Would you please come up here with me so we can all grant you a proper farewell, Ms. Gainsborough?"

From somewhere towards Sora's left where some file cabinets were lined against the wall, a woman with a pretty red ribbon tied at the neck area of her hair that stretched to her lower back began walking up to where the old man was standing. She had a small yet warm and pleasant smile adorning her lips as she walked by her fellow coworkers who gave her small hugs and other such small actions of appreciation. Her pretty pink and red work dress was starting to get a bit wrinkled from all the embraces, but she did not seem to care in the slightest. Some were even crying a bit at the sound of her leaving, although most of the criers really came from the women with only a couple of guys tearing up here and there.

"Boy, she really is going to be missed around here," Riku stated with a sad smile as he decided to not participate in the farewell embraces. "I'm telling you; she's one of the kindest and most patient people you're ever going to meet in your entire life. You can be an angry customer yelling at her about some money you lost to a scheme and she'll just try to calm you down before explaining things thoroughly and patiently. She's only been working here for a year longer than me, but she really made a loving and long-lasting impression in both me and everybody else in here."

"I know exactly what you mean there," Sora agreed in a tone that was just as sad as he looked on at the heartfelt farewell taking place. "I've only known her for the couple of months I've worked here, but I already feel like the mother I never had before. She even saved my butt a couple of times when I made some crucial mistakes and the boss was busy chewing my ear out because of it. She really helped me get a hang of things around here and even offered some good advice. I'm for real going to miss her."

"God, I can just hear the guys back at the orphanage making fun of the way we're talking right now," the silver haired guy said with a light chuckle in an attempt to lighten up the mood. "We're starting to sound like a couple of old parents watching their kids going off to college or something like that."

The brown haired teen could only laugh in both agreement and amusement at the comment because he could not find anything smarter or funnier to say about that. Of course, he made sure his laughter was relatively quiet so as to not be rude and ruin this touching moment for everybody else.

After a couple seconds more of embraces and tearful faces, Aerith finally made it to the spot where Mr. Kuroi had asked her to stand at. In turn, she received a warm hug from him along with a few words that only the two of them knew of.

"This wonderful woman here has been the most refreshing of spring breezes in the hottest days of summer," the man stated to the employees after he broke off the embrace. "In other words, she has been able to lift up our spirits when we have been at our lowest lows in this business. As such, I thank you Ms. Gainsborough for having had the chance to work here and impart upon us the grace and patience you have so exuded over these past few years."

"Thank you very much for this warm reception, Mr. Kuroi," the woman thanked him as her eyes gleamed with moisture yet refused to spill out tears. "I consider it both an honor and a blessing to have worked alongside a wonderful boss and some of the greatest coworkers a person could ever ask for. I consider you all to be like a very big second family, and I know that you'll all get along just fine without me. At least, I hope that'll be the case for a choice few of you," she added in a teasing tone. This incited a couple of small chuckles from the crowd while those who knew she was addressing them started to blush in embarrassment. Sora was one of those unfortunate few. "While I won't be working here anymore, I promise to visit as often as I can. That is, of course, if Mr. Kuroi will allow for it."

"Of course I'll allow for you to come and visit whenever it is you feel you want to," the man responded with a warm smile of his own. "I'll just make sure that the security guard posted outside knows that you have special permission to come and go as you please even though you'll no longer be an employee. It's the least I can do after all the help and support you've given us. That and it would also be nice if you could come in at times when we have new employees that need to be showed the ropes."

"I'd be more than happy to come in as a mentor to those new here if you need me to," she answered happily as that small smile never grew bigger but seemed to radiate more warmth through it. "I know how it can get busy in here sometimes, and the new workers sometimes fall behind when they don't know what to do."

"I thank you for your reassurance. Now then, the staff and I have come up with a wonderful little surprise for you," he continued on as he gestured with his left hand towards the crowd so as to make sure they were all included. "Most of them stayed late last night in order to set up a surprise going away party in the employee lounge area after you had left. I hope you appreciate the effort we put behind it, because it was hard to keep you away from there today," he added in a joking manner.

"Oh, that's so wonderful! I never expected to have this big of a response and show of appreciation. Thank you all so very much! I'll surely miss each and every one of you just as much as you'll all miss me."

"Alright everybody; let's all go to the lounge area and celebrate Ms. Gainsborough's last day working here with us and to the start of a new life!"

With that said, everybody began to file out of the room and towards the direction of the lounge area. A few women and a couple of men encircled Aerith again once she was away from Mr. Kuroi and began another tearful hugging session.

"Wow, I never thought that Xemnas had such a soft side to him," Riku responded as he shuffled a couple of papers on his desk before following the crowd. "I've never seen him talk or even act this sappy before in my entire time working here. Then again, this is the first time I've seen anybody up in these offices leaving, so I guess there's a first for everything," he added with a passive shrug.

"Well, he certainly wasn't soft and cuddly-like when he summoned me to his office!" Sora countered as he remembered his rather one-sided conversation with their boss. He then continued on as the two of them brought up the rear end of the group, "All he did was sound vicious and threatened to throw me out of here if I was performing personal conversations on the company computers again."

"Why don't you just give it a rest and admit that you were wrong?" the silver haired man asked with an annoyed sigh. Oh, how he so wanted to hit the other upside the head right about now. "Seriously, hearing you talk about it every ten or so minutes is starting to get real old real fast. How about just concentrating on enjoying Aerith's farewell party tonight? That and I don't want you to spoil tonight's fun for me."

"As if I had any intention on doing that," the spiky haired teen responded with a wide smile as they continued on their way to the lounge.

For the next hour and a half, all the workers and Mr. Kuroi forgot about their work and celebrated their last day together with Aerith. There were a few forms of entertainment set up in the lounge; including a makeshift photo booth that was really just a man taking pictures, a couple of interactive board games like Twister, and a karaoke system set up in one of the unused corners and hooked up to a portable screen for the lyrics to appear on.

Upon seeing the system ready to be used, Riku felt a rather devious idea pop into his head. Through a lot of persuasion and endless persistence on his part, he had somehow managed to coerce Sora into participating in the karaoke fun despite his rather loud protests. He even went and picked out the song for him, some kind of sappy love song that the teenager had never heard of in his entire life.

Needless to say, his face was already beet red from simply standing in front of everybody with a microphone in hand, and it only darkened further when he was forced to try and sing a sappy love song that was sung from a girl's point of view that made him turn even darker. Riku and some of the other coworkers laughed at the spectacle; but a few other merciful people, Aerith included, shouted cheers and encouragement to him. By some miracle, he managed to get through the ordeal without passing out from embarrassment.

"That's the last time I'm ever doing karaoke!" the spiky haired teen exclaimed once he was done and ran as far away from the microphone as possible. His cheeks were still very red, but it had since faded somewhat after the singing was over. "I still can't believe I let you force me into doing it. I felt like a complete idiot up there! And what was it with you picking some kind of stupid love song meant to be sung by a girl for me to sing? Were you really trying to make me look like an idiot?"

"For lack of a better word…, yes!" Riku answered with a huge amused grin on his face after a short dramatic pause. "I just love making you look like an idiot. It's really funny when you start blushing like crazy. It really makes you look beyond adorable. And that's coming out from the mouth of a straight guy like me," he added with a now toothy grin as he gestured at himself with his thumb.

"Shut up, Riku!" Sora angrily spat out with a childish pout as he crossed his arms. This failed in showing how angry he was at the situation and only succeeded in making him look even cuter in the process. "And stop grinning at me like you're some kind of perverted drunk. It's starting to look a bit creepy."

"That was a really nice singing voice you had there, Sora," Aerith complimented the teen in an attempt to calm him down. That and he really did sing that song beautifully despite not knowing the lyrics and feeling beyond embarrassed. "You really should try singing karaoke more often, although I suggest that it not be through peer pressure," she added as he gave a teasingly angered look at the other.

"Hey, I was just messing around with him," he explained in defense, knowing full well she was just teasing and playing along with it. And to show he was playing around, he was sporting his toothy grin that one would usually not put on when being chastised. "He was always this easy to mess around with when we were kids back at the orphanage. It's nice to know that some things never change, even when it's four years later."

"Yeah, why don't you mess around with me when we're not at work in front of everybody?" the teen complained as he started to pout again. "How the heck am I supposed to live this moment down with everybody else here? They're probably not going to let me live it down for as long as I work here. And just think how the boss would be able to use this against me in trying to get some excuse to fire me."

"Sora, why don't you go on back to your desk and try to watch a couple of shows on your computer to help you calm down?" the woman suggested as she placed a calm and relaxing hand on his shoulder. "I know how that always brings you back from boredom when you get tired of working on transactions. Maybe it'll work with your embarrassment. And it's less risker than trying to talk to someone else from another bank."

"…I suppose I'll give it a try," he conceded with a shrug of his shoulders, his previously sour mood all but gone now. This was the kind of motherly effect that Aerith had on most of the employees here; she especially had great influence on him most likely because he never had a mother figure to rely upon growing up. "I'll be at my desk for a while if any of you need me. And if the boss asks where I am, just tell him that I went home because I wasn't feeling well or something like that."

And without saying anything else, the teen shuffled his way back to the empty office room where his work station was calling out to him.

"Riku, don't you think you were being just a little bit too hard on Sora?" Aerith asked in a serious tone once the aforementioned teen was out of earshot. He's only eighteen on out of high school. For him, having a certain image is probably what's on his mind besides trying to avoid getting fired from here."

"Hey, I was just having a little bit of fun with him," Riku responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Under normal circumstances, he would have let his temper show a bit as a reaction to the annoyance of being talked to about his behavior. However, he found that he could not do that to Aerith no matter how hard he tried. As much as he inwardly hated to admit it, she also had some kind of motherly power over him. "I never really take him too seriously when he starts pouting and all that, because he does it all the time."

"I'm just saying that you should be more careful with your little pranks on him," she simply warned as she placed an understanding hand on his shoulder. Apparently, her hand gestures differed depending on what kind of emotion and point she wanted to get across. "Unlike you, he's pretty much new to the real world. Maybe it's best to hold off on those pranks until he's had time to adjust. After that, then you can make a fool of him as much as you want so long as it doesn't go overboard."

"I'll keep that in mind, Aerith. How about we move on from this and enjoy the rest of your going away party? It's not every day that everybody at your work comes together to make this all possible, you know?"

Meanwhile, back at the room with all of the computers, Sora was approaching his desk with a sullen look on his face. As much as he loved Riku like an older brother, he always hated it whenever he decided to pick on him. Most of the time, they were just minor things that he could let slide, but there were occasions where he would end up getting embarrassed in front of many people. This was one such occasion.

_Grr, Riku makes me so mad sometimes!_ he thought bitterly as he reached his computer and quickly took a seat on the chair. _Does he really have that much fun torturing me in front of everybody else? At least he's good for keeping secrets and stuff like that._

As he continued on with his mental rant, he turned on his computer and waited a few seconds for it to fully load. Once it was done, he entered the bank's server system so that he would be able to watch some shows through the company satellite he hacked into. However, it seemed that the night had different plans for him, because at that exact moment, some words suddenly popped onto the screen.

_Huh, who the hell wants to talk to me at this hour?_ the teen thought as he stole a glance at the wall clocks and looked at the one labeled Destiny Islands. He saw that it was a quarter before seven, fifteen minutes before he was to officially close shop and go home. Curious, he read the newly formed words.

**Knock, knock,** were the only two words written on it. He waited a little bit to see if anymore would pop up, but none did.

_Looks like someone thinks it's funny to tell me a joke right now. Guess I better play along and see what it is._

**Who's there?** he typed in as he decided to play along with the joke.

**Scotch on the Rox,** the person on the other end of the connection quickly responded without any sense of hesitation.

**Scotch on the Rox who?** he answered back, slightly confused at how the joke was phrased and the rather odd spelling of "rocks".

**Scotch on the Rox is in desperate need of help,** came the unique and rather cryptic answer. Then came the words, **Are you alone right now?**

With raised eyebrows, Sora responded after looking over his shoulders, **Yeah, I'm alone. Who are you, and what's this all about?**

**I already told you; I'm Scotch on the Rox.**

** No, I don't mean your server connection name. I meant what's your actual name in real life.**

** I'm afraid that's something I can't indulge you on. In fact, this server I'm on isn't safe for the kind of communication we'll hopefully be doing.**

** Yeah, using the bank's server really isn't the smartest way to be playing jokes on people, either.** Suddenly, Sora remembered the meeting he had with Mr. Kuroi earlier, and he did an actual face palm at his stupidity. He was definitely going to get fired the next time his boss called him into his office for a "little chat".

**I'm not communicating through the bank's server,** the mysterious person replied back. This succeeded in both calming the spiky haired teen down and confusing him even more. **I'm communicating through an unsecure proxy server. That's why I'm afraid I have to be brief. I'm in desperate need of your help.**

** …Well, what do you need help with?** The teen asked, not sure what exactly was going on and hoping that he would get some answers along the way. **If you want some personal advice or anything like that, then you're going about it the wrong way.**

** I'm trapped,** came the blunt and rather sudden response that shocked the teen when he read it. **I need your help to get out of here.**

**Uh, why don't you call the police if you're trapped? I mean, you obviously have access to a computer, so why not contact somebody else besides me?**

** I'm sorry, but I'm running out of time. I want you to read this riddle and solve it by this same time tomorrow. The answer will be the password to a more secure proxy site that I'll have set up and ready by then.**

** Are you sure this isn't some kind of game you're trying to play with me here?**

Instead of getting an answer, all he got was the riddle that the other person said he was going to send. One look at it, and Sora knew that he was not going to have an easy time with it whatsoever, especially with only a one-day time limit.

**Read along with me**

**And discover the verity**

**That leads you to the key**

**And thus to my sovereignty**

** …What the hell kind of a riddle is that?** Sora responded with raised eyebrows at what was before him. **How am I supposed to solve it by tomorrow with nothing to go on?**

** Believe me; you already know more about the riddle than you think you do,** the other person typed back rather quickly. While the teen still felt like he was being jerked around, he could not help but to notice the desperation that came with the response coming so quickly. **Please, you're the only one I can rely on. Remember, be back on this computer at this same time tomorrow.**

** …You're serious about you being in danger, aren't you?** the teen asked the other so as to confirm the feeling he was reading off of the words. However, all he got as a response was total blackness. **Hello? You still there, buddy?** And still it was the same dark silence that greeted him.

_…This guy really is serious about him being trapped and all that, isn't he?_ he thought to himself as he quickly reread their conversation. Not even a couple of seconds after that, he received another response from the other person.

**And by the way, your recipe for those steamed dumplings and turnip cakes were pretty tasty,** the other stated with a smile clearly reflected in those words. He then continued on in a slightly teasing tone, **You should consider trying out to be a chef if the banker position doesn't work out for you. I'll definitely come over to your restaurant if that's what you ever decide to do.**

_What the…? Has this guy been tapping into my conversations?_ Sora thought angrily upon hearing the recipe he gave to Yuna almost a whole week ago before slamming his hand angrily against his desk.

"Sora, is everything okay?" the sweet an slightly concerned voice of Aerith was suddenly heard in the empty room. Turning around, he saw her walking towards him. No doubt she saw him slam his hand down in frustration.

"Oh, hey there, Aerith. No, everything's alright. I'm just frustrated over this riddle that…that Riku told me last week that involves rocks or something like that," he answered with a stutter as he caught himself just in time before he went against the other person's wishes and told someone what they were talking about. "I still haven't solved it, and he doesn't want to tell me the answer. I think I'm just going to give up on it."

"Well, that's nothing to get all upset over," Aerith simply replied with a smile as she finally reached his station. "Riddles can sometimes be frustrating, and that's what tends to make them so hard to solve. Her eyes soon wandered to his computer, and she could not help but notice the conversation that was still posted on it. "Oh, did you manage to make a new friend while you were here?"

"Uh, wh-what makes you say that?" Sora asked with a nervous smile as he frantically exited the bank's communication server so as to respect the wishes of the other person and keep the details of their short conversation private.

"Because I don't remember ever seeing or hearing of a banker with the server name 'Scotch on the Rox' before," she explained before giving an apologetic smile upon seeing his frantic actions. "I'm sorry, though. I shouldn't be reading what you were talking about since it probably was private."

"Nah, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to look."

"If you don't mind me asking, though, does the other person also happen to like that book as well?"

"Uh, what are you talking about here?" the spiky haired teen asked as he was starting to get tired of sounding like a clueless person. "I don't think we really talked about anything that sounded like it had something to do with a book."

"Well, I noticed that the server name is the same as the title of a book I've already read a few times," Aerith explained as she began walking over to her designated station. "The title's called, 'Scotch on the Rocks'. It takes place on this fictional world called Earth where countries are at war. It's a pretty good book, but it's also somewhat controversial being that it involves some of the political problems of some of our actual worlds and hints at predicting some of the outcomes of those struggles. Nevertheless, it's still something worth reading. I happen to have a copy of it with me right now."

_Did Aerith just say 'Scotch on the Rocks'?_ Sora thought with eyes slightly widened as he remembered the riddle and what the other person had said after that. _That's the exact same thing as the guy's server name. Could he have been talking about the book when he said to read along with him? I-I guess it's possible. Then maybe the answer to his stupid riddle is somewhere in that book! I'm going to have to ask Aerith if she could let me borrow it._

"Sora, did you hear what I said?" the long haired woman asked as she put her hand on his shoulder and thus snapped him out of his inner thoughts.

"S-sorry, I was kind of spacing out there," the teen admitted with a sheepish smile. "What did you just say?"

"I said that I have the book right here with me," she repeated as she presented the book to him by placing it on his desk. "And I'm just wondering, but does this book have something to do with the riddle Riku gave you? You did say that it had something to do with rocks."

"You know, I do remember hearing him say Scotch on the Rocks, but I thought he was talking about the alcoholic drink. I never knew that it was a title of a book. Is it okay if I borrow it for a little bit? I'll give it back to you the next time you come to visit."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about returning it. I've read it a few times already, so you can keep it. And before you say you can't keep it, then just think of it as a keepsake so that you won't forget about me."

Th-thanks, Aerith!" Sora thanked her with a wide smile as he took the book into his hands and looked it over. "I promise to take good care of it!"

"I know you will. Now how about you come back to the party? It's not as much fun when you're not there to enjoy it with me. That and everybody is starting to get a bit too clingy for my tastes. I had to pretend to go to the bathroom just so I could take a little break from all the attention."

"Wow, I never thought that you would just leave your admirers like that," the teen responded with a light chuckle as he put the book back on his desk before getting up from his chair. "Then again, it already kind of started to look like you were going to have a crowd when the boss announced you were leaving earlier. Just please make sure that Riku doesn't try to pull another stunt and embarrass me in front of everybody again."

"Don't worry about that," Aerith reassured him as they began their way back to the lounge area. "I've already had a nice little talk with him about that. He shouldn't be trying anything like that again tonight."

And as they continued on their way back to the party, the two continued to talk about many different things with nobody passing by and bothering them. It was not until they arrived back to the party did they separated because she was once again bombarded by people who were desperate wanting to strike up one last conversation with her.

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><p>Once again, I apologize if the humor isn't as good as some of you prefer it to be. For those of you who have read my other stories, you know that I'm more of an action writer, but I figured that I'd try my hand at humor. But yeah, I hope the parts that I put in here at least made some of you grin in amusement. And I also hope you liked the bit of background information I put in for the characters to help you all figure out where they came from and how they were raised. It just adds to the overall neatness of the characters themselves.<p>

And sorry if the riddle didn't sound good. I'm not good with rhymes, but I wanted to find some way to make it hard to find the password to a soon to be secured proxy server. And by the way, the book, "Scotch on the Rocks", is an actual real life book for those of you who did not know of it. That's the reason why I named this story that but with Rox. I'm sure that you all already know by now who this mysterious person already is.

And for those of you who are curious, I'll put the ages of the characters down here again along with a short bio. I know that some people feel like it adds more to the story if they're able to tell what the ages of the main character and the other characters supporting them are. And I'll probably put the ages down here for the first couple of chapters after the characters are introduced so you all can have a chance to remember their ages without having to flip to that certain chapter just to remember. So here it is for all of you who care.

Sora: 18 (A high school graduate and the youngest banker at Destiny Island International Bank (DIIB) thanks to his best friend Riku)

Riku: 22 (A college graduate who helped his best friend Sora land a job at the bank through lots of persuasion to his boss)

Xemnas: 50 (The boss of the DIIB who runs the bank under strict rules)

Aerith: 25 (A fellow banker who's like a mother figure to both Sora and Riku and retiring to pursue another line of work)

And yes, most of the characters are going to be in their late teens or twenties except for a choice few. I really can't imagine Xemnas to be any younger than 45, but I kind of hate him, so I made him a little bit older.

Well, I hope that you all enjoyed this. Don't forget to leave a review saying how you think I did and if there's anything you think I could improve on. Just make sure they're not just pointless flames or flames disguised as constructive criticism. See you all until the next update on this or any of my other stories on here!


	3. One Long Night at Home

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for this new story. Yeah, this story is being updated pretty fast. I just happen to have a lot of ideas for this story that I'm having a hard time keeping up with it. This doesn't happen often, so consider yourselves lucky that I'm still on this imagination rush right now. It'll die down soon, and you'll know when I start taking a little while to update. But until then, continue to bask in my sudden rush of imagination.

Anyway, let me go ahead and do a little recap of what happened in the past chapter just because I feel like it. Now that we know that someone is supposedly in trouble from the last chapter, just how is Sora supposed to be able to help the other person out? All he has is some stupid riddle the other person gave him that he could barely make heads or tails out of. He only has a book that he got from Aerith in which he can only assume the answer to the riddle hides in. This should definitely prove to be an interesting moment for him.

Well, that's enough of my short rant and recap of the story. Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading before you move onto something else. As always, I read them and take into consideration whatever _constructive_ criticism that you might have. Just make sure they aren't flames, or they'll be ignored and deleted. Until the next time I update this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: One Long Night at Home<br>**

"_Read along with me and discover the verity that leads you to the key and thus to my sovereignty,_" Sora repeated to himself so as to not forget it as he held a book in his hands and had his backpack that held some of his work stuff slung over his back. He did not bother to look through it while sitting in a bus that he took to and from work. "I guess this book Aerith gave me has the answer in it, but it looks pretty big and boring. How can I read through it and figure out the answer by seven tomorrow night? I guess I'll just run through it and skip all of the parts that don't seem interesting. Hopefully, the answer to this guy's stupid riddle doesn't end up in one of those boring parts."

The party had ended at seven, the same time everybody was to be off the clock, but they all stayed behind to clean up the aftermath of the party. Some just stayed behind simply to have one last conversation with Aerith and reminisce with her. He, however, had been busy reciting the riddle in his head during the entire time he was helping to clean up the area. And now he was lost in his thoughts during his ride home.

By the time the bus reached his stop, it was already a little bit past eight. It took him a couple of seconds to snap out of his thoughts and get off before the bus started back on its intended route. Deciding that he should keep his mind out of the clouds, he walked the last couple of blocks to where he was currently living.

A couple of uneventful minutes later, he was at the front steps to an apartment complex he had found with no help whatsoever from the orphan system. Riku had helped him pay the first month's rent in order to guarantee at least a month's worth of living space when he had first helped him get the banking job. Since then, the brown haired teen had been paying the rent himself with his paycheck and using a bit from what was left over to pay back his debt to the silver haired man. Thank god the job he had at the bank paid a decent amount of money to cover both of those necessary expenses and allow for him to at least buy food and other household necessities. That and the apartment he lived in was already furnished, so that ended up saving him more money.

_ I really have to find a way to thank Riku for landing me this apartment one of these days,_ he thought as he reached into his jean pockets and pulled out a key ring and isolated the key that opened the outer gate leading into the complex grounds. Next to the gate was a silver box with buttons corresponding to the room numbers inside, but he had no need for it since he was renting a space in there. _Not that I'd ever admit it or anything like that, but I don't want to be sleeping in the park again with winter now coming around. Maybe I could buy him something nice when his birthday comes around._

With that thought and other idle ones passing through his head, the teen managed to open the gate and passed through it before making sure it automatically swung shut again. He then used another key on the chain and inserted it into the apartment complex door. Unlike the outer gate, this one did not have any kind of silver box connecting to the tenants' rooms. Yeah, the surrounding neighborhood was a relatively safe place to live in, but the owner of the building wanted to have a little bit of extra protection just in case.

_Does Cid really need all this security around to keep us safe?_ he wondered as he finally got the door opened and finally entered the building itself. He was greeted by a well-lit lobby area with freshly painted white walls that had a couple of couches situated on one side with a side desk and coffee table for visitors or other tenants to relax. A few simple decorative pictures were also seen hanging here and there. _He probably had a moment of senility when he bought this place and wanted to keep any and all thieves out. Oh well, I can't really complain since it seems to be doing the job pretty well._

And almost as if on cue, a man who looked to be in his late thirties with short yellow hair came out from a door marked "Landlord" situated next to the reception desk. He had on a pair of old and faded jeans that had flecks of white paint here and there and a simple blue shirt that showed off his semi-muscular arms. His facial features made him look like he was angry or ticked off about something, but it only seemed that way to those who did not know him. To the tenants, they knew that this was his normal face, no matter how intimidating it might have been, and have quickly grown accustomed to it.

"Hey Sora!" the man addressed the teen in a gruff tone just as he was about to go up a set of stairs that was passed the reception desk. He then said with a friendly chuckle, "Looks like you had a tiring day at work. Think you can spare me a couple of seconds before you go to sleep? I got a couple of things I wanna talk to you about."

"Sure, Mr. Highwind," Sora agreed with the man as he changed course and walked up to the man who was most likely the landlord while suppressing a sigh. He was currently chewing away at a toothpick like there was no tomorrow. Since he followed up with the city rules, he did not allow for anyone to smoke in the building. This rule also included him, and this proved to be somewhat problematic. He was known by all of the tenants to be a heavy smoker. So whenever he had to be inside the building for an extended amount of time and could not go outside for a smoke, he would simply just chew on a toothpick as an alternative. He was also known to have a notoriously fresh mouth and loud voice that accompanied it, but that was only heard whenever he was deeply frustrated over something. "What's on your mind?"

"First of all, how many times have I told you to just call me Cid?" the man responded with his arms crossed. "You know how I hate sounding like some old geezer. I ain't ready to be trucked off to some retirement home yet surrounded by slow and old people rotting away. And secondly, since when in the two months you've lived here have you been in trouble?" he added with a grin and a chuckle. "I just wanted to tell you that you accidentally shortchanged me when you paid last month's rent yesterday."

"I did?" the teen asked with raised eyebrows and a small downward twitch of his lips. "Gee, sorry about that. How much did I leave out?"

"You left out twelve dollars, but I rounded it down to just ten so you don't have to bother with those stupid one dollar bills," Cid answered with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "It really isn't that big of a deal, so there's no need to get all flustered about it. I'm sure you didn't try to cheat me out on purpose. You're one of the most responsible tenants I've ever had since I first started in the renting business ten years ago."

"Thanks, but I'm still sorry," the teen apologized again as he reached into his back pocket and took out a brown leather wallet. He then produced a ten dollar bill from it and handed it over to the man. "Here's the money I still owe you."

"Thanks, Sora. I knew that you'd be able to take care of this misunderstanding in a heartbeat," the landlord replied with a pleased and trusting smile. "I just wish that some of the other guys living here were as responsible as you are. Sorry for bugging you about it right when you got home. By the way, how's everything working up in your apartment? Is there anything that you need me to take care of or fix?"

"Well, one of the lights on the kitchen ceiling keeps flickering on and off from time to time. It kind of gets annoying when I'm using a knife and the flash suddenly happens. Other than that, everything's working as great as it should."

"That's good to hear. I'll come up to your place whenever I have the time to replace that phantom light. Just try and bear with it until then.

"Oh, and one more thing," the man added as his face reflected something he had just remembered. "I've been thinking about installing in a new security system to replace the outer gate's old system. It's been around for almost seven years now, and I think it's time to replace it with something new and fresh. I'm just trying to get the opinion of the other tenants to see how they feel about it."

"Well, I don't really care much about the new system so long as it still ends up keeping this place safe," Sora responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Does this mean, though, that you're going to have workers stomping through my apartment so they can destroy the walls and change whatever needs to be changed? I think wiring or something like that needs to be changed to work with the new system."

"Lucky for you and everybody else, I managed to find a new system that's basically the same as the one we're still using. Now you're probably thinking why get it new if it's going to be the same exact thing."

"Might I take a guess at saying that you don't really like change?" the spiky haired teen responded, remembering how the man raised such a stink when one of the tenants went and changed the phone wiring in their apartment without saying anything. Needless to say, they all ended up not having any electricity in the entire building for a couple of days, and the person was evicted with an onslaught of curses following close behind him.

"If you're thinking about that incident with that idiot Reno who ended up having a rap sheet as big as his oversized head, then yes," Cid responded with a distasteful snort at the memory while increasing the vigorousness of his chewing on the toothpick in that it looked like it was ready to snap. "It also makes it easier to connect the system to the entire building, unless you prefer complete strangers taking control of your apartment for god knows how long just to connect things and then take your stuff without you knowing."

"No thanks; I don't like the idea of strange people trampling over my stuff and figuring out how I live. Does this mean then that you're going to be increasing everybody's rent to offset the installation and maintenance fee?"

"Yeah, but it shouldn't really be too much of a jump. If you're all lucky, it might really only go up by fifteen dollars at the most. You see, I have a friend who works in the security business, and he said that he'll be able to cut me a deal. If it falls through, then everybody in this building including me will be happy."

"Let's just hope that it does, because I can imagine some of the people living here raising a stink with even only a fifteen dollar raise in rent," Sora said with a sigh as he looked up to the ceiling. "They'd probably explode if it went any higher than that."

Before they could continue on with their conversation, a loud thud was suddenly heard on the floor above them. Since the teen's head was already pointed upward, all he did was raise an eyebrow at the sound. Cid, however, let a low growl escape his lips in apparent frustration before rolling his eyes.

"Why do I get the feeling that those two guys are having another loud and extended sex session?" he growled out with a shake of his head. "That's the third time this week. The last time they did that, they kept me and most of the surrounding tenants up all night. I guess a warning isn't enough to keep them quiet."

"Well, I guess I'm lucky that I live on the floor above and don't really hear them," the teen responded as he grinned at the mental image that suddenly popped into his head. He then said while shaking his head to get his mind out of the gutter, "I guess they got real bored this week and decided to have a lot more fun than usual."

"Well, I'm about to put a damper on their little bit of 'fun'," the man stated with a huff as he walked past him and towards the stairs, most likely heading to the room where the sound was emanating from. He then said over his shoulder without stopping, "Nice talking to you, Sora! Keep your ears open about the rent business."

And with that, he had escaped up the stairs to the second floor to assumedly stop what was going on before it got out of hand. The teen simply stood there for a few seconds and allowed an amused chuckle to leave his throat. He then decided to make his way up the same stairs to his apartment up on the third floor. And as he started his climb from the second to the third, he heard Cid's loud voice shouting at some people inside one of the apartments with colorful language that should never be heard by children.

_Gee, Cid sounds really pissed off about this,_ he thought without paying too much attention at the noise or the people coming out of their rooms to see what was going on. _Then again, his room's right underneath those guys, so it's probably louder for him than it would be for anybody else. But seriously, how can those they go at it three times in one week? I think I'd be tired to even go a second time, not that I know how it feels or anything like that._

Even when he had reached the third floor and moved away from the stairs, he could still hear pockets of colorful language. He simply ignored it and made his way past two doors before stopping in front of one with his key at the ready. He put it in the keyhole and unlocked it with a twist of his wrist. Taking the key out, he opened the door and entered his apartment that he had been living in for the past couple of months.

_Finally, I'm back home,_ he thought with a sigh as he closed the door and made sure to lock it. He then set his keys on a nearby table and threw his backpack onto a couch a couple of feet away. He then moved to another part of the apartment that was soon known to be the bedroom and placed the book given to him by Aerith on the bedside dresser before starting to shed his body of his work clothes.

_Now let me just go ahead and take a nice warm shower before I do anything else,_ he thought after he had fully stripped down and took his night clothes off of his unmade bed and some boxers in his drawer. He had to step over a few articles of loose clothing strewn across the floor and his recently kicked off shoes to get there. Yeah, he might have been a somewhat responsible teenager, but he was not so much so that he made his bed or kept his room spotlessly clean. He felt that it was just a bit beyond obsessive. _Then I'll start reading that stupid book and see what I can find out. I still can't believe I'm actually going to solve some mysterious guy's riddle for absolutely no reason at all._

Now in his bathroom, he made a beeline for the shower after placing his clothes on the counter next to it. Unfortunately, he was a bit too deep in thought and accidentally stubbed his toe on the edge of the tub. Lightly cursing under his breath, he stepped over the tub and drew the curtains so as to not let any water out when he turned on the shower. He had to contend with the initial blast of ice water at first, but it quickly warmed up, and he began to wash himself of the day's city grime and sweat.

_Then again, he did seem pretty desperate towards the end of our conversation,_ he continued to think as he lathered up his body and rinsed off the suds. _And as far as I know, faking emotions over computer communications is close to impossible to do. After all, not everybody is like me in that they can tell what the other person is feeling right off the bat after reading their responses. But still, why would he contact me instead of just going to the police if he really were in trouble? Guess I'll ask him about it tomorrow since he said he's going to be on again at seven._

Choosing to now stop thinking about the contents of the short yet mysterious conversation, Sora grabbed a bottle of shampoo and squeezed it into his hair. Amazingly enough, it still held some of the gravity defying spikiness even when wet. And as he massaged it into his scalp and lathered it up to clean out whatever gunk was in it, it still held on to that strange spiky behavior. Of course, it had now considerably deflated after such vigorous massaging and then rinsing of the suds.

Now feeling adequately cleaned, he turned off the water flow and poked his hand out of the shower curtains and blindly searching for the towel. He did not want to open it because he feared the cold air that was waiting beyond it and wanted to dry off before being forced to face it. Once he managed to blindly find what he was looking for, he quickly dragged it back in and began to dry himself off.

_It's too bad I can't really ask anybody to help me out with this riddle,_ he thought with a sigh after drying his body and now rubbing at his hair. Once he was done, it had regained its spiky personality, but it seemed even wilder because of the drying process. He then continued on as he exited the shower, _He was real adamant in making sure that everything we said and did stayed between us. He's either a really paranoid person, or he's afraid that somebody might be watching his every move. I'm willing to bet my money on paranoid. That just means that it's going to be a long night for me._

After he had dressed himself up in his night clothes, he hung the towel up to dry on a rack that was built into the wall before leaving the bathroom. He immediately went to pick the book back up from where he left it on the bedside dresser. However, he accidentally tripped over one of his shoes in the process. Thankfully, his body fell on the bed, so he was able to avoid any kind of hard fall.

After taking better care to exit his bedroom without any more incidents, he then walked over to the small kitchen area and opened up a cabinet in search of something to eat. Once he found a small bag of chips, he went back to the living room and practically plopped down on the couch right next to his abandoned backpack. It jostled a bit from the movement and seemed ready to fall to the ground before steadying itself once more.

"Alright, time to start reading and find this 'key'," he said out loud with a heavy sigh after opening the bag and placing it next to him. He then opened the book to the first page and began to quickly skim through it. "Hopefully, this won't end up taking all night, although I wouldn't be surprised if it did." He then thought to himself as he spent a minute reading the next couple of pages, _Oh boy. This author has a really boring imagination to be writing this. I'm really going to have a long night tonight._

And for the next few hours, Sora skimmed through the book while munching away at the bag of chips. He still felt that it was a waste of time, but something inside him told him to try and solve the riddle. He could not get out of his mind the hint of desperation when the other practically begged him to help him out at the end of their conversation. He figured that was the drive that was keeping him from just giving up. That and he was not the kind of guy who would give up on something so easily for no good reason.

By the time one came around, he was already three-fourths of the way through the book through skimming and had forgotten more than half of what little he managed to retain. Unfortunately, his eyes were starting to droop from a combination of weariness and boredom, and he accentuated it with a loud and long yawn. After wasting all this time reading a book that was not anywhere near interesting, he was still no closer to finding the answer to the riddle than he was when he had first returned home.

"I have absolutely no idea what the hell I'm looking for here!" he grumbled out in frustration as he crumpled up the now empty bag and threw it onto the nearby coffee table where it landed before bouncing off to the ground. With a sigh, he got up and picked it up in order to throw it in the trash bin. "He sounded like he was suggesting that everything I need to work with was that stupid riddle. _Read along with me and discover the verity that leads you to the key and thus to my sovereignty_. Maybe all the hard words would lead me to what I'm looking for. I mean, why put in just two hard words in a rhyme that's made up of simple words? I think I have a dictionary lying around somewhere here."

After spending a couple of minutes searching for the dictionary, he finally found it on a bookshelf situated next to the window that he had hardly looked at since he first started living here. With it, he decided to try and find the words "verity" and" sovereignty", the only two words that he had no idea in what their meaning was. He then saw that they basically meant truth and freedom respectively.

"I don't know what the hell he put down truth in the riddle," he said with a sigh as he tried to think back to his few hours of speed skimming. "Maybe it's because he's planning on telling me what's going on once I figure it out. However, maybe the word freedom is another hint I could use. I don't think I ever did hear about anything that had to do with freedom, though. There's probably a small mention of it somewhere towards the end of the book. And he did say he was trapped, so there must be something in there that has to revolve around the thought of freedom.

"Oh hell, I'll just finish it up tomorrow when I'm at work," he growled out in frustration as he put the dictionary back onto the bookshelf and went to retrieve the book he had left on the couch. "Nobody should ever try and skim through a long and stupid book in one night. I swear; if I read one more page out of that boring book, I'm going to go crazy. Right now, I'm just going to go to sleep and forget all about it."

Now picking up the book in which he was desperately trying to find the answer to the mysterious person's riddle, he shuffled it away into his backpack that was still on the couch so he would not forget about it tomorrow. He then made his way to his room and immediately made a beeline for the bed after turning off all the lights. With a groan of annoyance, he quickly got back up because he realized that he had to use the bathroom first. A couple of minutes later, he returned and plopped back down on his bed and pulled the covers over him, this time without any distractions. And in less than ten minutes, he was out like a light and lightly snoring away as if he did not have a care in the world.

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><p>Well, that's the end of this new chapter for you all. Sorry if it seemed rather uneventful. It was really more of a filler chapter meant to show how he was struggling with trying to figure out the answer. But then I figured that it would be too short of a chapter, so I decided to add a couple of other things that would tie into his current life. It was just my attempt to try and connect you all to how his life was like.<p>

Anyway, sorry again for an uneventful chapter that some might view as a dense uninformative piece of reading. Even I kind of see it like that, to tell you all the truth. But with that said, I still hope you enjoyed it all the same to some degree.

And here's the ages of the character's presented in this chapter. Yeah, Cid isn't going to be a main character in the story, but I'm going to have him appear every now and then.

Sora Hikari: 18 (A high school graduate and the youngest banker at Destiny Island International Bank [DIIB] thanks to his best friend Riku)

Riku Usuakari: 22 (A college graduate who helped his best friend Sora land a job at the bank through lots of persuasion to his boss)

Xemnas Kuroi: 50 (The boss of the DIIB who runs the bank and does not like anything done outside of work rules)

Aerith Gainsborough: 25 (A fellow banker who's like a mother figure to both Sora and Riku and retiring to pursue another line of work)

Cid Highwind: 35 (The landlord of the apartment complex where Sora lives in who happens to have a colorful mouth)

Well, that's it for the relatively short character bios. And I noticed I forgot to put the last name of the characters in the last chapter. That's why they're being repeated here. And only the characters in which I have plans on showing up a few more times in the story will be on here.

Now that all that is out of the way, I'll let you all move on to something else. Just don't forget to leave a review telling me how I did. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!


	4. Finally Cracking the Riddle

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read that's half mystery and half humor and also a whole lot of enjoyment. Wow, this is the most amount of chapters I've ever posted in a row. However, all streaks must come to an end at some point, and my point will unfortunately probably have to be tomorrow.

I have a whole bunch of homework for my college computer class that I need to finish in five days. Yeah, I had a whole three months to finish it, but I procrastinated and now have five days to finish four chapters in three sections of the book. That means I have to finish twelve chapters and ever single computer file in them. That's practically two and a half chapters a day. Put that on top of the other homework I'll no doubt get in my other classes, and I'll have a major backup. As such, I'll be forced to put on the breaks on my imagination for now. Oh well, like some people like to say, you reap what you sow.

Anyway, that's enough ranting about my personal problems. I'm sure you all came here just to read my story, so I'll let you all go now. Don't forget to leave a review once you're done reading telling me how you think I did with this chapter. They are always very helpful for me. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4:<strong>**Finally Cracking the Riddle**

When the next day came around, Sora found himself working at the bank in front of his computer just as he did every other day since he started working. He was currently absorbed in his transaction work and not thinking of anything else. Amazingly enough, none of the people he was transacting with tried to strike up a conversation with him after they were done. This proved to make his mission on not getting fired much easier in that he did not feel pressured into answering or feel bad at suddenly cutting others off.

"So Sora, how's your first day at work feel knowing that Aerith isn't here to keep an eye over your back?" Riku asked as he took a small break from hours of constant computer work. "It feels kind of weird knowing she's not here anymore, doesn't it?"

"Eh, it's something I'll just have to get used to," the teen responded as he continued to type away at the computer. He was currently in the middle of a transaction and did not want to stop and end up forgetting where he left off. "And it means that I'll have to be extra careful when I watch my shows on this computer. Thank god my desk is practically the furthest one from the boss's office, or I probably wouldn't be able to pull this off."

Just as he said that, his computer screen suddenly changed from the transaction page he was on and began to broadcast some cartoon. Instead of exclaiming in surprise at what had happened, he simply let out a sigh of annoyance and got up from his chair in order to check the wirings on the back.

"Let me guess, your computer decided to go on the fritz again," the silver haired man simply said with an amused chuckle as he glanced over at the office where Xemnas was right now talking with a woman who was supposedly his personal secretary. "I'll keep a lookout while you fix it."

"Geez, I hate it when it starts acting up like that," Sora grumbled under his breath as he was crouched down behind his computer and jostling some of the wires. "Then again, I guess this is punishment for hacking into the company satellite just so I can watch television during my down time. Is it getting any better yet, Riku?"

"Nope, it's still showing that childish cartoon you obviously never grew out of five years ago," the other answered. Amazingly enough, everybody else that was around the two either did not notice what was going on or just chose to ignore it. Either way, nobody bothered them during their attempt at fixing things up. "I know that they're still making new episodes, but don't you think it's time that you grow out of it? It kind of makes me feel embarrassed at having you as my best friend."

"Just keep watching for the boss and shut your mouth about the things I watch," the teen snipped back as he continued to jostle the wires. "And besides, you never watched even one episode from the series, so you have no idea just how good it really is."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, you got the computer back to normal. You can get back to work now before Xemnas chews you out."

With a silent whoop of victory, Sora quickly went back to his seat and continued on with his work as if nothing out of the ordinary had just taken place. With an amused roll of his eyes, Riku decided to look over some paperwork in an attempt to kill some time while trying to be productive in the process.

"By the way, where did you go last night after the party?" he asked as he once again shifted his attention towards the teen.

"I went home to rest," the spiky haired teen replied as he pressed the enter key on his computer and laid back in his chair in relaxation. "You know I don't really like to go anywhere after work. Why do you ask?"

"Because I called you sometime around nine to see how you were coming along with the apartment," the other responded. "I left you a message in case you were in the shower, but you never called back. I just assumed you found something better to do."

"I was in the shower at the time," Sora explained in a half-lie. He did take a shower sometime that evening, but he was too busy skimming through a certain book at the specified time to have paid much attention to anything else. But he was not going to admit that to his best friend any time soon. "I didn't really bother to check my answering machine for any missed calls. Sorry about that."

"Damn, and here I was thinking that you finally found somebody to spend some intimate time with."

"Riku, why don't you get your head out of the gutter and start working on something else? I think that my romantic life is the last thing that you should be worrying about. I'm doing pretty well on my own, thank you very much. I even had Cid the landlord tell me how responsible I was with the rent and the apartment itself."

"Wow, I didn't think that you'd take care of something that wasn't really yours in the first place. But besides that, I can't help but worry about you and your personal life. You didn't really hang out with the other guys when we were growing up at the orphanage. And in case you forgot, it was me who finally dragged you out of your little world during one of our recesses when we were trapped inside because of rain."

"Yeah, remind me to pay you back one of these days for becoming my first and best friend. And I'm being serious there when I say it," Sora added as he flashed a quick smile at his best friend to show that he was being serious.

"Look, the point I'm getting at here is that I'm worried about you," Riku continued on with a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're like a little brother to me, and I've always been worried about your social life ever since we became best friends. You got to go out and find somebody to hang around with. You know, like maybe find another friend or even a boyfriend to go out on a date with or something like that."

"Riku, I'm only eighteen right now as opposed to you being twenty-two," the teen countered with an annoyed sigh of his own. "Unlike you, I'm right now trying to save up so I can afford to put myself through college later since the stupid orphan system didn't even try to send me some support while keeping the apartment you helped me get. That and I still need to pay you back for that first month's rent. The last thing on my mind right now is trying to look for another friend to hang out with much less a boyfriend."

"Trust me; I think even Aerith would agree with me here if she knew how you were like growing up," the man said as he tried to speak for the woman. "You just need to learn how to be less socially awkward and more outgoing with people. You really are a pretty fun and funny guy to hang out with even if you get annoying sometimes."

"Well, thanks for your vote of confidence with that," the other sarcastically replied with a roll of his eyes. "Look, I'll promise to try and polish up on my people skills when I can afford to go to at least one quarter's worth of college. I'll most likely have to talk to the other students when I get there for group projects and other things like that. Until then, just let me be and stop bugging me about my lack of a social life."

"Alright; but I'm going to hold you to that promise, Sora. But if you don't mind me suggesting here, how about try going to one of those online dating sites for a boyfriend? I know you're a good reader of other people's emotions through internet talk, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to figure out who is real and who's fake."

"Drop the subject right now before I start delving into _your_ personal love life. See how you feel when I start picking away at the things you do."

"As if you'd have any luck with that. I already told you before that I've been dating this girl named Naminé for the past six months now. She's kind of shy like you, but she's more willing to open up to other people. I doubt that there's anything in there that you can use to annoy the hell out of me."

"Yeah, but isn't she like the third girl that I know you dated since you tried to go out with a couple of other girls back at the orphanage before you left? From what I remembered, those all also lasted about six months before they went and dumped you for another guy that they both happened to like and start ripping each other's' hairs over."

"Well, nobody said that you'd be able to find that perfect someone right on your first try. But they also said that the third time's a charm," Riku added with a big smile that could easily charm anybody, including some of the guys, into liking him. This also served as a sort of confirmation to Sora that this was indeed the third girlfriend in his entire life so far. "And she seems so much different than the other two. She isn't pushy, but she doesn't just blindly do whatever it is that I say. She has her own set of rights and wrongs and tries to accommodate to mines as I do to hers."

"Okay, now you're starting to feed me information that I never asked for in the first place," Sora quickly stopped his best friend before he started to go overboard. He then added in a more relaxed tone and a smile, "Maybe you can introduce me to her sometimes. She sounds like a pretty nice girl."

Just then, the sound of short and consecutive beeps sounded throughout the office. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it was more than enough to capture the attention of the entire office staff.

"Well, sounds like it's time to turn in for the night," the silver haired man responded as he turned off his computer and put some papers into his desk drawer. "I promised Naminé that I'd take her out to dinner tonight as a birthday gift. Don't want to keep her waiting after getting her all excited and everything."

"Alright, then you go ahead and have a good time," the spiky haired teen said with a nod as he rummaged through his backpack and took out the book that Aerith had gave him last night. He had no intention of going anywhere tonight because of a certain somebody wanting to hear a certain answer from him soon. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Aren't you going to leave?" the other asked with raised eyebrows after putting on his black jacket and seeing his best friend still seated on his chair. He also noticed the book in the other's hands, but he figured it was best not to ask about it. "It's already a quarter before seven. You're usually all eager to get out of here when it's time to go."

"Um, I just thought that I'd hang around here for a little while longer," he responded with a shrug of his shoulders while trying to seem casual about his strange behavior. He then added as he quickly tried to come up with a plausible excuse for staying late, "That and I kind of promised Aerith last night that I'd take care of one of her accounts that she couldn't manage to finish on time. She said she trusted me with it, and I couldn't just say no to her and let her leave knowing that she had unfinished business here."

"Heh, you never could say no to her when she had a favor to ask of you," Riku said with an amused smile as he picked up his briefcase that he kept under his desk. It was clear that he bought it. "Just make sure you don't drive yourself crazy and forget to go home. I don't want to see you collapsed over your desk and fast asleep."

"Don't worry; I won't," Sora stated as his best buddy started to exit the office along with everybody else. "I'll see you tomorrow, Riku!"

And with a wave of his free hand, the man disappeared into the crowd of other staff members who were eager to go home for the night. Within a matter of minutes, only he and a couple of people from the janitorial staff were left. With a sigh, he opened to book to where he had left off last night and restarted his search for the answer to the riddle.

"And what are you still doing here, Mr. Hikari?" a voice suddenly asked from behind the teen. This, in turn, effectively startled him and almost made him fall out of his chair when he quickly got up and turned to see who was talking to him. It was none other than Xemnas with his briefcase in hand and ready to leave. "The dismissal bell has already rung. You should be on your way home by now."

"M-Mr. Kuroi!" the teen addressed his boss while trying to regain his composure so as to not look or sound suspicious. "I-I know that it's already past working hours, but I'm kind of a little bit behind with one of my accounts. I haven't submitted it yet, but I noticed an error when I was typing it up that ended up messing everything up. So I was thinking on staying late tonight and fix it up before I end up forgetting the next day."

"Hmm, it sounds like someone's right now on the top of their game," the boss responded with an amused smile on his lips. "Still, I'd rather that you go home and rest on it. I'm sure that the account can wait for you until then."

"B-but sir, I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't get this done now!" Sora exclaimed as he quickly changed his attitude to reflect that of what he hoped to have been desperation. "You know how good of a worker I am despite some of the quirks I have. I don't want this mistake to stick with me during my time here in your employment forever. I just want to get this one thing done!"

"But it's just one little mistake that you just said can be fixed in no time," the man responded as he stepped back a bit as if what he were seeing was a lethal time bomb. "It's not like you made some big mistake on all of your work and have to spend all night fixing. Simple clerical mistakes happen to everybody at some point. They even happen to me once in a blue moon, and I'm supposed to be the one extra careful about it."

"But it's not the mistake that I'm worried about!" the teen continued on as he started to get his momentum going and felt that he got the right balance of desperation. He then had an idea and decided to use his past as a sob story to further emphasize his "desperate" situation while speaking fast at the same time. "You don't know what it's like living your entire life in an orphanage and then suddenly being dumped into the real world! It's almost like somebody just kidnapped you and left you in the middle of nowhere to rot. I'm barely making enough money as it is to pay for my rent and food and other things a person needs to live. I don't want any mistakes on my record so I can have a better chance at getting a promotion! Please, sir; let me stay here and fix this mistake! Please just let me stay!"

"Alright, alright; you can stay behind for a little while!" the boss finally gave in upon hearing such a ruckus from the teen that drew the attention of the janitorial workers that were nearby. He clearly did not want to be engaged in hysterics at this time of the day that just suddenly came up for no apparent reason. "Just…just make sure you remember to tidy up your desk and turn your computer off when you're done. And don't let me catch you talking to other people through the company server like I did last time, or I'll personally see to it that you never set foot in this office again," he added in a threatening manner as he turned to make his way towards the bank exit.

"Don't worry, sir; I promise to be on my best behavior in here!" he assured the thin old man in a very thankful tone before sitting back down in his chair and breathing a sigh of relief. He then thought while nervously running his hands through his spiky hair and recomposing himself to his normal demeanor, _Damn, why does everybody have to keep asking me why I'm staying late tonight? It's like they think I'm going to try to do something illegal. Then again, I kind of am going to break the rules if you think about it. I'm just lucky I managed to come up with those excuses that they ended up buying. I just hope I don't have to perform another fake sob act if I have to say late again._

After he finally managed to relax, he took the book that he had hastily placed on his desk into his hands again and picked up where he left off. He still had about ten minutes before the other mysterious person said he was going to contact him, so might as well kill the time by trying to figure out the answer to his stupid riddle. That and he needed a way to distract himself from the strange glances he was still getting from the janitorial staff.

Even though he only spent a short amount of time, he was skimming through so fast that he reached the end of the book before seven came around. Sure, he did not really get a chance to look deeply into the details, but all he wanted was to find something that might have to relate to freedom, the only hint he managed squander late last night. But before he had a chance to ponder on what he just went over, he saw his computer screen flash into pure blackness before a couple of orange words.

**Knock, knock**, it said like when he had gotten the first message. Apparently, the person on the other end was true to his word. However, something else was added before Sora even had a chance to respond to the opening of the joke. It read, **Please enter password.**

_Well, looks like it's time to get this show on the road,_ he thought as he looked over his shoulders to see if the janitors were still around. They had long since left without him knowing. _At least I don't have to worry about keeping things secretive for now. Now what the hell is the password he's looking for?_

For a moment, he thought about what he skimmed through both last night and just now. Figuring that he did not have anything to lose, he decided to try and throw something out there and see if he got anywhere.

**Scotch,** he typed in before pressing enter, thinking that maybe freedom could have translated into going into an alcoholic coma and forgetting your troubles. That was quickly responded to with, **Incorrect Password.**

_Hmm, how about this one?_ he wondered as he typed in the word, **Freedom**, in hopes that it might have been one of those trick riddles. He was met with the same result. _Oh, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought._

For the next couple of minutes, the teen simply typed in words that he figured had to with freedom that came with the book. They all yielded the same result. He even went so far as to try and type in the characters' names in thinking that they were what represented freedom. He did remember that some of them fought to prevent the successful takeover of some other invading country. They were all promptly denied.

_God damn it!_ he thought with a very vocal and annoyed growl. _This is stupid! How the hell is this guy going to think I can solve this riddle? I only had one day to just skim through the book, and I couldn't make heads or tails of his damned riddle!_

With a sigh of frustration, he got up from his chair and started to walk away from his desk. This was clearly getting to him, and he was about ready to give up. It was at this moment, however, that he suddenly remembered a certain part he skimmed through a few minutes ago.

_Wait a minute!_ he thought with raised eyebrows as he went back to his desk and picked the book back up and began quickly flipping the pages. _I think that somewhere in the end they talk about this country losing to the enemy and the enemy setting up some kind of independence ceremony as a form of celebration. Maybe he's talking about the country where the ceremony was being held. It's a long shot, but it's not like I have anything to lose here._

After arriving at the appropriate page he was searching for, he skimmed through it until he found what he was looking for. With a hopeful smile, he bent down over the keyboard with a hopeful smile on his face. He then slowly typed in with one hand, **Edinburgh**, before pressing the enter key. This time, he was met with the words, **Access Granted**, and a colorful and constantly changing background began flashing as if in celebration.

"Got it!" Sora shouted out in excitement as he pumped his fists into the air and started jumping around like a hyperactive child. "I finally solved your goddamned riddle! Oh, who's the man here? Come on, everybody; who's the man here? I am! Yeah!"

After a couple more seconds of loud celebration that surprisingly did not garner any attention from anybody nearby, the teen noticed that the screen stopped shifting colors and had returned to the blank screen it was before. Then words popped up onto the screen, although they were now white words on a red bar background that extended from one side to the other and only as tall as the letters were.

**Well done!** the person said with happiness and a hint of relief behind them. **I was hoping you'd be able to get it after a bit of effort.**

**Does this mean I pass your test?** he typed in with that dopey triumphant smile still on his face. He noticed that his words were also white, but the background they laid on top of was blue. Clearly, it was meant to differentiate who was talking to whom at what point. **Please tell me that it does, because I spent all night and day trying to figure it out.**

**It means you're smart, and that will help you out in the long run,** the other person simply responded. **Now that we're on the secure proxy server I've set up, we've a lot more freedom to speak without having to worry about people watching. And make sure you remember the password and tell it to nobody. It's your only way into this server.**

** So what in the world's going on here, buddy? Why all this secrecy just to talk to me and all that?**

** Sorry about that, but I couldn't take any chances when we first talked. You see, I'm right now trapped over here in Twilight Town with no way to get out.**

** Yeah, you said something like that last time,** Sora responded as he thought back to when they had first talked and wondered why the other was contacting him all the way from a far off planet. **What did you mean by you being trapped? Couldn't you just contact the police with your computer instead of calling me from way over here on Destiny Island? I'm just a simple banker, for god's sake!**

** Banker or not, you're the only one I can trust at this point. I can't leave because all the doors are closed on my end.**

** What door? What are you talking about?** the teen asked as he slowly became more confused than ever. **Couldn't you just break it down or something like that? Maybe you could even pick the lock if you're that desperate.**

** It's not as simple as you think,** the other person replied that felt like it was tied with a sigh. **Look, I need you to help me on your end to contact someone for me. I can't do it on my end for some reason. I need you to go to the Destiny Island Consulate and relay for me a message to them.**

** You want me to go where?** he typed in as his brain tried to wrap around this odd request. **What makes you think that the people at somewhere important like that would ever listen to an eighteen-year-old like me?**

** You're eighteen and already working at the bank as a transactions clerk?** the other person typed in after a moment's pause. Apparently, he was shocked upon hearing his age. **God, what are the people over there thinking nowadays? Oh well, I guess I can't really be picky about anything right now. Look, all you have to do is go to the consulate and go straight to the receptionist's desk. Once there, ask them for Department X, and they should send somebody down to meet you. I want you to tell that person my message. Can you please do that? It would really mean a whole lot to me.**

After a moment's pause in contemplation at what was being asked of him, he typed in, **Fine, I'll do this for you. You do sound genuinely desperate.**

** I take it that you're one of those guys who know how to read emotions in typed words. Guess I can't hide anything emotionally from you then. Anyway, the message I want you to tell Department X is this. "Cats are dead. Need a new set of claws!" Tell them that it's from Scotch on the Rox.**

** You want me to say something like that to people from the consulate?** Sora typed in with his eyes wide in disbelief after a moment's pause. **That sounds like something a four-year-old would tell his mother while crying their eyes out!**

** If you do this for me, then you'll be doing me a very big favor,** the other responded with a tone of desperation back in his words.

**Look, don't go begging me again to do this for you,** the teen typed in before the other could get a chance to plead with him.** I'll do it, but I'm telling you that I'm not going to like one single bit of it.**

** Thank you so much. Please go to the consulate as soon as you can over there at Destiny Island. I'll be back here at the same time waiting to hear the results of your efforts. I've got to go now, so I'll talk to you then.**

** Wait a minute!** the teen quickly typed in upon reading what the other person said. **Can't you at least tell me your name before you go?**

For a few seconds, the person on the other end did not put in a response. Then came the response, **You can just call me Rox for now. Make sure you use my server name, though, when you're at the consulate. Do you mind telling me your name while we're still on the subject?**

** It's Sora,** he quickly responded, thinking back on their conversation and feeling like he could fully trust this Rox person because of the lack of malice in any of his words. He then decided to indulge him with his last name. **Sora Hikari.**

** Well Sora, it's great to get to know you,** the other said with a smile in his words.** I'll see you once I get back to personally thank you for your help. I got to go now, so I'll see you tomorrow.**

** See ya,** he lazily typed in before letting out a sigh and a roll of his eyes. He then thought as he leaned back in his chair, _Gee, now I got to go to the consulate tomorrow for this guy just to relay some stupid message. I guess I can make a quick trip over there during my lunch break. Oh, what did I manage to get myself into?_

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><p>Well, Sora has finally solved that rather difficult riddle. But now he's obligated himself to go to the Twilight Town Consulate and relay to them a message that sound like nothing but a foolish person's rambling. Just what the heck is going on here?<p>

Anyway, I hope that you all liked my attempt at humor that I put in here. I just had a sudden idea at trying to make things funny by having Sora pretend to beg to stay at work longer with false hysterics. And then to hear what he was supposed to tell to the consulate people. Here's a short bio about this mysterious person called Rox.

Rox: ? (A mysterious person apparently from Twilight Town who contacted Sora in a secretive fashion in search of help)

Well, I hope that you all enjoyed this new chapter as much as I had making it. Obviously, I can't really put down his age because he's just communicating through computer and doesn't really have a visual for Sora to think about.

Remember, I'll be slowing down now in lieu of the immense backlog of work waiting for me to complete here. Don't forget to leave a review saying what you thought about how I made this chapter. With that said, until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody.


	5. The Twilight Town Consulate

Hello everybody! Yes, I know I said that I'd most likely be slowing down, but I just happened to finish one entire chapter of my computer homework rather quickly. I probably would have to spend all day tomorrow working, though, because I realized that towards the end of each respective chapter, there's a hands-on work that requires research on the internet. And since I always find that looking for info on the internet and incorporating it into the work is fussy, here comes a long day.

Anyway, that's enough of my stupid rambling that I'm sure none of you really ever read. I'll let you guys go onto the new chapter. Before I do that though, let me just make a mention about the last chapter. I personally have never read the book "Scotch on the Rocks". When I first came up with the title for this story, I was thinking along the lines of making a riddle based on the drink. I then did research and figured out it was also the name of the book. And I learned on wikipedia that Edinburgh was the place where the independence celebration was being held, hence the allusion to freedom. Yeah, it's sucky, but that was the best I could do there.

Well, that's enough of my rants and explanations. I'll let you all go now to this new chapter. Just please don't forget to leave me a review telling me how you think I did here. Also, I hope you like the humor I tried to put in here. Until the next update on this or one of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: The Twilight Town Consulate<strong>

When the next day came around, it started out just like any other normal day for Sora. He got up, got himself ready for work, and made it to work with a few extra minutes that he spent talking to Riku about whatever. He would then continue on with whatever work he had left off on the day before and try not to get himself in trouble with Xemnas. The two best friends would occasionally have small conversations, but they concentrated on their work for the most part in the morning hours.

When the lunch alarm rang, the teen immediately shut off his monitor and shuffled his papers together before stuffing them into the drawer. He then took his blue jacket off of his chair and hastily put it on before making his way towards the exit in order to do something completely out of the ordinary for him. Thankfully, his boss was still in his office talking business with his secretary, or he would have probably yelled at him about how he could accidentally destroy a computer or something like that. Either that or he would have decided to become ruthless and fire him on the spot for that.

"And just where are you off to in such a hurry, Sora?" Riku asked with an amused smile as he saw the other practically tidy up his desk in record time when it was not even time to officially leave. "I never saw you move this fast for just a lunch break. Either you're very hungry, or there's something going on. Don't tell me there's a big lunch special going down at that sushi place you like that you want to catch."

"There's something important that I need to take care of during this break," Sora quickly explained without really hearing what the question was. He was too busy weaving between crowds of people and trying to not cause an accident at the same time. "Sorry I can't spend lunch with you today, Riku!"

"Then what's so important that you'd have to run out of here like there's a fire?" the silver haired man asked in an attempt to get some kind of explanation. Unfortunately for him, the spiky haired youth had already disappeared from his sights. It was almost as if he was never there by the speed he was moving.

"Yeesh, you'd think that he would've change at least a little bit after four years," he said out loud before he calmly turned off his computer and reached for his own jacket in preparation for his lunch break. "He's still that same hyper guy that I remember back in our orphanage days. I just hope that doesn't end up getting him into deep trouble one of these days. Oh well, no use worrying about it right now. Now let's go see what they're serving today down at the noodle shop. Hope they aren't trying to make anything weird again like noodles and paupu fruit in soup mixed with coconut milk."

For the next five minutes, Sora was riding in a bus whose route would take him near the Twilight Town Consulate. It was a rather quiet and uneventful ride, and the traffic was amazingly smooth for the current time of day it was. Lunch time was usually one of the busiest hours of the day with cars and people rushing about to try and find a bite to eat. Once he arrived at his stop, he got off and made his way to his destination without any thoughts of taking side-trips unless he wanted to be late for work and get in trouble.

While he was hungry and wanted to get something to eat, he knew that going to the consulate to deliver a rather stupid message was more important. He did not know exactly why he had felt obligated to help this Rox person; maybe it was because he knew that the other had no ill intentions when he asked for this ridiculous request. Maybe it was because of the hint of desperation he clearly felt throughout their entire conversation from both last night and the night before last. Whatever the reason was, he could not pinpoint because of him now standing in front of a rather large building that he knew to be his destination.

_Okay, could somebody please tell me again why I'm here?_ The teen thought as he stood staring up at the large building in a combination of awe and confusion. _The embarrassment is going to end up killing me soon._

The building could have been mistaken for a mansion were it not for the fact that there were no gates guarding it from unwanted vehicles, mostly limousines or other fancy models, freely coming in and out. There were also a bunch of foot traffic with men and women in clean business suits coming and going with briefcases in one hand and a cell phone in the other. And on a plaque that was situated against the wall next to the entrance of this grand building were the words, "Twilight Town Consulate", stenciled into it.

_Here I am, dressed in just a regular shirt and jeans with only a thin blue winter jacket on standing out from all these business guys,_ he thought while mentally wincing at how he felt out of place standing in front of such a prestigious place like this. _And I'm here because of some crazy request by this guy named Rox who wants me to tell somebody in here something so completely stupid. I still can't believe I'm actually going to go through with this. Nobody in their right mind would actually follow the directions of a person they only met on the computer for two days without knowing the reason why. I wouldn't even be surprised if nobody decided to take me seriously._

"Are you lost, young man?" a woman's voice suddenly asked, jolting him out of his deep thoughts and causing him to jump a bit in surprise because of it. "I can help you with directions if you need it."

"Huh?" the teen responded rather dumbly as he looked to his left where the voice came from and saw a young woman with long blond hair in a suit. She probably most likely worked inside the consulate. "Oh, I-I'm alright! I was just…kind of getting a bit homesick when I was passing by this building," he answered in hopes that it would pass as a suitable response. "I'm originally from Twilight Town, you see? Passing by here just made me remember all the things I miss about the place."

"Mmm, I think I know what you mean there," the woman stated with an understanding nod of her head and a dreamy smile as her ice blue eyes seemed to shimmer with thoughtfulness. "I've been there a couple of times myself, and it really is a beautiful place, especially how the sun always seems to have that wonderful twilight quality to it. It's almost as if you've been transported to another realm where everything is at peace and nothing can go wrong. I don't blame you in the least for feeling homesick. Even I want to go back there every now and then just to enjoy all the beauty it has to offer. Oh, it's just such a wonderful place that nobody could ever get tired of."

"Uh, yeah," Sora said as he started to feel like he was being forced into a topic he did not know anything about nor wanted to talk about. "Um, I think I better get going now. Sorry for taking up some of your time."

"Oh, that's perfectly alright," he heard the woman call out as he turned around and proceeded to walk down the sidewalk away from the consulate. She then said more to herself in a serious tone, "I shouldn't have spent too much time talking right now, anyway. I have more important things to take care of."

_Geez, I wasn't expecting somebody to just randomly talk to me like that,_ the teen thought with cheeks reddening from embarrassment as he decided to walk a lap around the building to calm his nerves before trying to enter again. _I should've just said that my best friend moved to Twilight Town or something like that. How the hell was I supposed to know she'd start a trip down memory lane right there?_

After spending about five minutes circling the block and in an attempt to calm his nerves, he was back to where he had first started, standing a few yards away from the consulate entrance. Some people who had been standing outside talking to each other earlier were still there and gave him a strange look as if he were some kind of lost child. This time, he decided to not stop in case a repeat with that woman occurred and went straight into the building. He knew that some of the people near the doorway were casting strange glances at him most likely because of his ordinary appearance, but he tried his best to ignore it and stifle the reddening he knew his cheeks would get from it.

Once he was finally inside, he immediately felt an aura of importance that was more imposing than the view from the outside. The area which he assumed to have been the main foyer was well lit thanks to the sun roof up. He looked up a bit and noticed that it was made with many different colored pieces of glass and gave the air a slightly beautiful sheen of color. There were also a few people here and there with suitcases in their hands, but they all seemed too busy to even take the time to say hi to each other. It was definitely a different atmosphere than what he was used to back at the bank.

_Geez, haven't these people ever heard of the concept of fun?_ he thought with a mental sigh before he felt overwhelmed by the sudden change in atmosphere. _It's like they're all in a hospital or something like that. They should loosen up a bit before they die from stress. I know this place has a lot to do with politics and all that, but yeesh. This is exactly why I didn't want to grow up when I was little._

Once he felt he was as accustomed to the very serious atmosphere as he was going to get, he began to scan the foyer for any signs of what looked to have been a receptionist's desk. After a couple of seconds, he easily spotted a woman sitting behind a fancy wood desk with a name plate that read, Lucrecia Valentine. She was currently talking to somebody on the phone and copying down something on what looked to have been a sticky note. Figuring that she was the person Rox had told him to approach, the teen decided to walk towards her. He had to dodge a couple of people who refused step out of their way for him, but there really was not much trouble beyond that.

"…I'll make sure that he gets the message," he heard the woman say once he was within earshot. The woman also seemed to notice him and regarded him with a smile. "You have a safe trip now, Mr. Valentine… Yes, I love you, too, honey. Oh, stop trying to make me sound unprofessional on my end, or you won't be coming home to a well-cooked dinner." She then hung up the phone and directed her full attention to the teenager with a warm and welcoming smile. "Hello and welcome to the Twilight Town Consulate, young man. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Um, I was wondering i-if you could connect me with…Department X?" Sora asked with a bit of a stutter that came from the nervousness he did not manage to fully extinguish. "I-I have a message for them."

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," the woman responded as she picked up the phone and began dialing. She seemed to have not noticed how nervous he was acting. "May I have your name please?"

"I-It's Sora Hikari!" he quickly responded as he breathed a sigh of relief at how smoothly things were going right now.

"Alright; just go ahead and wait on the bench over there, and somebody should be with you shortly," she explained with a nod of her head as she seemingly waited for someone on the other end to pick up.

"Thank you, miss," the teen thanked her with a thankful smile as he did as he was instructed and took a seat on a nearby bench that he had somehow managed to miss during his first scan of the area.

And for the next few minutes that passed, Sora just sat on the bench waiting for whoever it was he was waiting for from Department X. He did not need to repeat the message he was supposed to say because of how easy it was to remember through its ridiculousness. He still felt out of place being the only person in the building dressed in casual clothing while others around him were in suits, but it was not as bad as earlier.

"Hello, Ms. Secretary," a man's voice suddenly greeted from somewhere in the building. "Where's this person who has asked to see me?"

Turning around to see the person who he figured was looking for him, he saw a relatively old man walking down the hallway towards the secretary's desk with his black dress shoes seemingly gliding across the waxed floor. He had short white hair and seemed to have a frail body, but the aura surrounding him suggested anything but that. He seemed to have had a bad back since he mainly walked in a slightly hunched over position while keeping his hands behind him. He wore a black suit like most of the others, but even those just passing by regarded him with a quick hello. This just showed how well-known this man was and what kind of influence he had in the consulate.

"Mr. Hikari, Mr. Hakujou will see you now," he heard the secretary call out to him as he stood up and straightened out his jacket to make himself look more presentable. "He's the man right over there."

"Ah, so you're the young fellow who called for me," the man responded with a smile, his golden yellow eyes never once leaving Sora as he calmly made his way towards him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sora Hikari. My name's Xehanort Hakujou," he introduced himself as he brought an arm out in greeting.

"I-It's nice to meet you, too, Mr. Hakujou," Sora greeted that man as he accepted the firm handshake. "I'm sorry for pulling you out of your busy schedule. I'll try to get this all over with as quickly as possible."

"Oh, it's quite alright," Xehanort simply responded with a light chuckle. Despite how old he and his body looked, his voice sounded like a cross between young and old. It clearly did not reflect his age.

_Perhaps he isn't as old as he looks,_ the teen thought as he pulled his hand back after they were done shaking hands. _I guess it's true when they say to never go judging a book merely by its cover._

"You must excuse me for my posture," the man continued on. "With the winter weather getting closer, my back loves to start acting up. The doctor said that a bit of walking every now and then should help make it feel better, so I figured I'd use this as an excuse. It's better than submerging myself in hot water for half an hour!"

_…Never mind; he really is as old as he looks,_ the other mentally corrected himself while nodding his head in agreement. "I'm sorry to hear that, sir. In that case, I'll try not to take too much of your time. You probably have a lot of better things to do than me." He mentally kicked himself in the butt for making a comment like that and making him sound like some kind of unemployed goof-off.

"Hmm, then what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" the other asked with a smile, seemingly not to have noticed how the previous sentence was phrased or just choosing to plain ignore it altogether.

"Um, I was told by a certain someone to give you a message," the spiky haired teen as he tried to quell down the bout of embarrassment he felt coming.

"Really? By all means, what is it?"

"Uh… umm…," Sora stuttered for a moment as if he were unsure of what to say next. In all honesty, he was unsure of how things were going to pan out from here. He then said in a low whisper, "Cats are dead. Need a new set of claws!"

"…I'm sorry?" the man apologized with a bit of an unsurprised attitude greatly masked by his questioning tone that seemed to indicate he did not catch what was just said. "What did you say?"

With a sigh of annoyance at having to repeat such a ridiculous statement, the teen said with less mumble to it, "Cats are dead. Need a new set of claws!"

"No, I clearly heard what you said. I'm just confused as to what you mean. Who told you to come over here and say something like that?"

"Scotch on the Rox," the teen responded in a hushed whisper and clenched teeth without moving his lips much as if he were revealing something top secret.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Xehanort asked, clearly straining his ears to hear something that was barely audible.

"Scotch on the Rox!" the other stated a bit louder but in the same manner. He hoped that the other would have heard him this time around.

"Scotch on the Rox?" the man suddenly exclaimed once he finally figured out what the teen was trying to say. It also seemed to be tied with the smallest hints of surprise, but it was hard to tell overall.

"Yeah, do you know him?" Sora asked, excited that he was finally getting somewhere with all this. He was confused as to why he was sensing small bits of extra emotion in his responses, but he figured that it was just his way of talking.

"Of course I do! Scotch on the Rocks happens to be my favorite drink. I just love how the taste lingers on my tongue for a while. I just wish that my doctor didn't tell me to limit how much I drink."

"What? No, I'm not talking about getting something to drink!" the teen corrected as he mentally fell to the floor at how the topic just suddenly changed from embarrassing messages to alcoholic drinks. He honestly thought at that moment that the man standing before him was starting to turn senile right before his eyes. "I was talking about the person who told me to tell you the thing about the cats. Are you sure that you're the person that the secretary called down from Department X?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hikari, but there is no such thing as a Department X here," the old man responded with an amused chuckle as he started to walk towards the main part of the foyer. The teen followed closely beside him. "I was just about to leave my office when the secretary called to say that you wanted to talk to me. Whatever gave you the impression that we had something like that here?"

"But…but Scotch on the Rox told me to come here and deliver that message as soon as I possibly could!" the teenager said more to himself as he became more confused than ever. Just what was going on around here? "They said that somebody in here would understand what I was talking about. Are you sure there isn't a Department X?"

"I'm as sure on that as I am on the fact that my back will be killing me come Christmas time. Our consulate acts more like one unit rather than be separated by different departments. I'm sorry that you came all this way here for nothing."

"Heh, I should've figured that I was being played for a fool here," Sora responded with a chuckle that was more out of defense to keep his embarrassment from the situation from rising up. "I don't know what I was thinking there. I'm really sorry for pulling you out of your busy schedule, Mr. Hakujou."

"And as I said before, no need to apologize. I only suggest that you don't listen to everything that people say. I'll take a guess that you're only a teenager, so you should try to listen to your instincts to see if something's off."

"I'll keep that in mind, sir."

"Oh, Xehanort," a familiar woman's voice suddenly called out from down the hallway the old man had come from. Both of them turned around and saw a long blond haired woman standing there. It was the same woman the teen saw outside and spoke with a few minutes ago. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but are we still on for that meeting with the representatives from Agrabah later today?"

"Oh, I almost forgot all about that," Xehanort responded with a look of surprise as he looked down at his wrist that had a gold watch on it. "I'll be with you in the meeting room in just a moment, Ms. Foudre. Thank you for the friendly reminder. I'm sorry to so suddenly rush off, Mr. Hikari," he continued on as he said his goodbye to Sora. "This is a meeting that I can't afford to miss."

"It's alright; I needed to get back to my job anyway before my boss decides to chew me out for being late," the teen responded with an understanding smile accompanied with a small shrug of his shoulders. He then said as he began to make his way towards the exit, "I'm sorry again to have wasted your time."

And without waiting to hear a response, he quickly made his way out of the Twilight Town Consulate. He could not keep his embarrassment at the situation bottled up anymore, and he felt his cheeks instantly heat up less than a second after he left the man's presence. He did not care if he had accidentally bumped into other people, which is what he did a couple of times; he just wanted to get out of there.

_God, this could possibly be the most embarrassing thing I've ever done compared to that karaoke fiasco two days ago!_ he thought once he was outside and greeted with the cool winter air hitting his overheated face. _I never felt more like an idiot in my entire life. I swear; I'm going to verbally kill that Rox when we talk tonight! He's going to regret ever trying to make a fool out of me!_

Once he had reached the corner of the block, Sora stopped for a moment so he could get a chance to regain his composure. Yeah, he was beyond pissed at being made a fool, but he figured he was half to blame as well for going along with it. The one thing that confused him now was why the other person sounded so sincere yet was so badly wrong in saying that they would understand what he told the consulate guys? That just did not make any kind of sense to him at all.

Before he could have a chance to further ponder on that, the teen felt a strange presence seemingly watching him. He knew he was surrounded by a lot of different people of different race and ages, but this feeling was too unusual for his tastes. He looked all around him for anybody who might have seemed suspicious, but everybody was either talking with each other or on their way to wherever it was they were planning to go. Nobody looked like they were keeping tabs on him. He simply passed it on as his embarrassment playing tricks on him before crossing the street in order to catch the bus that had just pulled in for a stop in hopes that he would not be late back to work.

Little did he know was that there really was someone following his every move right now. However, it was not from the streets where people walked every which way. Rather, it was from a sole person situated on the roof of one of the buildings near the Twilight Town Consulate. The person was currently spying down on Sora with a camera that had a zoom feature on it. Apparently, he was taking pictures of him as he was crossing the street and heading into the bus. It was only until the bus had pulled away from the stop and turned the corner did this mysterious person stop taking pictures.

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><p>Oh boy, things are starting to sound a bit interesting now. Why in the world would anybody want to go spying on Sora for no particular reason and take pictures of him? I doubt that this person is some kind of obsessed secret admirer of his. And how could this Rox person sound so sincere and be so completely wrong at the same time? Just so many unanswered questions that need to be answered.<p>

Anyway, I spent my time reading a fan fiction on this site from the author, Tsukisamu Sayako. Her story, "Fantasia Krystallos", is a pretty good story to read, and it has inspired me to create a story in the same format like that, but obviously different at the same time. Of course, I'll be concentrating on this for the time being so as not to get confused and all of that. And here are the ages of the characters.

Xehanort Hakujou: 65 (An old man who works at the Twilight Town Consulate who supposedly doesn't know about "Scotch on the Rox")

Ms. Foudre: 30 (A blond haired woman that Sora ran into who apparently works alongside Xemnas in the consulate)

Just as a little tidbit, the last name of every character in here has some kind of allusion to what they were in the Kingdom Hearts games. For example, Sora is Hikari because he wields the Keyblade of Light. And Foudre is french for lightning. I was getting tired of just using Japanese names. But who do we know is blond and has something to do with electricity?

Well, I hope that you all enjoyed this story and the humor that I had attempted to put into it. Please don't forget to leave a review telling me how you think I did on the humor along with the overall progression of the story. I always take your reviews to heart unless they're just pointless flames. With that said, until the next update to this or one of my other stories everybody!


	6. Who is Scotch on the Rox?

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story. Amazingly, I managed to get this out after spending four hours just to complete one chapter on my computer homework. If I follow that line of logic, then that would mean that I have to spend eight hours to finish two chapters. And since I still have ten more to finish in three days, that means twelve hours of nonstop work for it. If this proves anything to all of you, that is to never procrastinate with your work or end up dying trying to get it all done.

Anyway, that's enough of my little rant. Seeing as I can't do most of my work in class, twelve hours is a moot point. So I might as well do as much as I can while trying to write this story. I hope that you all enjoy the effort I put into this story.

Oh, and just to say, I made a change from the name of Ecouter to foudre in the last chapter. That's because I made a little boo boo from it, and foudre is still french but for lightning.

Until the next update on this or any of my stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Who is Scotch on the Rox?<strong>

When Sora had entered the bank after returning from his quick escapade to the Twilight Tow Consulate where he practically made a fool of himself, he knew that he was going to be in trouble. The reason being was because lunch break was already over a few minutes ago, and Xemnas would no doubt be angry at him returning late. It was just his luck that the bus route happened to cross paths with a funeral procession that just happened to take more than five minutes to pass through. Too bad the old man did not care what happened on the way back; the only thing he can see is that somebody was late.

In order to try and minimize the damage he knew that was coming up, he began speed walking through the bank. What made things take a bit longer to return to his office was that it was all the way towards the back of the building and down a set of stairs. And being that it was getting close to Christmas, lots of people were inside withdrawing money so they could buy gifts for their loved ones. He had to make his way through this crowd of Christmas shoppers and ended up taking more of whatever time he had left to get back to his station.

When he had finally made it to the back of the bank, he practically ran down the set of marble stairs in front of him two at a time without holding onto the wooden railing. This nearly caused him to fall to his doom when he accidentally made a misstep halfway through. There was less foot traffic in this part of the building, but there were still office workers walking to and from the area. He simply sped walked around these people; he even ignored the friendly hello he received from the security guard that was situated behind a metal desk just beyond the entrance to the office area where all the bank's international transactions were made.

"You're late," the spiky haired teen heard the words that he knew he was going to hear. However, they did not come from the person he was expecting them to come from. "What in the world happened?"

"Don't ask, Riku!" the teen responded hastily as he walked past his best friend who happened to have been making his way to the water dispenser. Once he reached his desk, he hastily took off his jacket and sat down on his chair before opening his drawer and taking out the files he had quickly stuffed in there earlier.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Xemnas if I were you," the silver haired teen spoke in a reassuring tone as he came back with a cup of hot water in his hands. "I managed to cover for you by saying you had an upset stomach and might be in the bathroom for a while."

"Did he really fall for that?" the other asked as he finally calmed down and looked at his best friend with raised eyebrows. "He doesn't look like the kind of guy who would fall for something so simple as that."

"Well, I did promise him that you should be back at your desk no later than five minutes after lunch break was over. I'm just happy you barely made it, or he would have been down both of our throats."

"Thanks, Riku; I really owe you one for that."

"I think you really owe me two," the other corrected Sora for no good reason. In the next second, he opened his drawer and pulled out something wrapped in white paper and looking suspiciously like half of a sub sandwich. "I had a feeling that you really weren't going out for lunch by the way you just blasted out of here. So I figured you might be hungry and bought you half a sandwich."

"Damn, you really know too well, you know that?" Sora responded with a big smile as he happily took the sandwich and unwrapped half of it before taking a huge chunk out of it. He then said with his mouth full, "Remind me to pay you back big time for all of these lifesaving things one day."

"Just don't talk with your mouth full, and that will be enough payment for me today," Riku said with a look of disgust on his face before turning to concentrate on his work. "And make sure that Xemnas doesn't catch you gulping down that sandwich like a starving maniac. You know how he doesn't like us eating outside of break time."

Instead of answering him, the teenager simply continued to destroy the sandwich at an insanely fast rate. Within a matter of minutes, the sandwich was gone, and the only signs that it ever existed was the white wrapping it came in and the various crumbs on the desk. He crumpled the paper and collected the crumbs before throwing them in a small trash can next to his desk before leaning back in his chair with a content sigh.

"And how are you feeling this afternoon, Mr. Hikari?" the teen suddenly heard the voice of his boss asking him from behind his chair. "I heard from Riku just a few minutes ago that you weren't feeling all that well just before lunch ended. If you want, I can send you home early so you can take a break. It wouldn't do for you to work with stomach pains constantly granting you unpleasant distractions."

"Thank you, sir, but I'm alright now," Sora answered the older man without bothering to stand up. He tried not to stutter so as to not raise any suspicion upon himself. "I think someone at the sandwich shop thought it funny to put something weird in my lunch. I'll make sure to take it easy so I don't end up aggravating my stomach."

"Well, just make sure that you don't overexert yourself because of it," Xemnas warned before he was seen moving off towards his right and checking up on the other workers. "I don't want to have one of my best workers keeling over with pain."

"I honestly can't tell sometimes if he worries about me or is just out to get me," the teen responded with a roll of his eyes before returning to his work. "It's like he has a split personality or something like that."

"Just be happy that he didn't figure out that you were just late coming back from lunch," Riku stated with a light chuckle and an amused shake of his head. He then asked with some suspicion running through his voice, "And speaking of lunch, just where did you end up going that caused you to be late?"

"I-I just rushed down to…to the mall to get something!" the spiky haired teen quickly said as he thought up of a plausible excuse. "Christmas is almost here after all, and I was trying to look for things to give a certain somebody."

"Yeah, sure," the silver haired man simply replied in a nonbelieving tone. However, he did not choose to pursue that matter further and continued to silently work on his work. The other soon chose to do the same thing.

And for the next six or so hours, they both completed their work only to be introduced with more to finish. There were times when Sora had finished his transaction and was engaged in conversation with his bank friends. He managed to sneak in a quick hello and status report of how he was doing before quickly terminating their conversation. He felt bad that he had to so abruptly cut off his friends, but he figured that they would understand.

When six forty-five came around, the dismissal bell rang on schedule. And just like clockwork, every worker shut down their computers and prepared to leave for the night. And just like last night, the spiky haired teen made no move to try and get ready to leave. Naturally, this caught Riku's attention and picked at his curiosity.

"Don't tell me you're planning on staying late again tonight," he stated more than asked as he put on his black winter jacket. "You haven't been acting like yourself since Aerith left. Is there something that you want to tell me?"

"Well," the teen simply said with a sheepish smile. It looked like he was going to have to come up with another suitable excuse that would hopefully last more than just one night. "Uh, you know how my landlord is about tenant safety and all that?"

"Of course I know. I used to be a tenant of his when I left the orphanage. I'm telling you; the guy probably has a soft spot for orphans kicked out of the system."

"Hey, you never told me about that," Sora said with a smirk on his face that served more as a way to stall for more time. "So that's probably why you were able to land me that apartment with him as easily as you did. I should've figured that you two had some kind of history with each other.

"Anyway, he said that…that he was going to be putting in a new security system on the outer gate. Because of that, he's thinking about raising everybody's rent a bit. So I was thinking that maybe I could work my way up to a raise or even promotion if I prove to the boss that I'm a real hard worker."

"How much is he planning to raise your rent?"

"Uh, I don't think he really said how much he was going to be raising it," the teen responded with a shrug. He was only half-lying when he said that because there really was no set amount to the raise yet. "He said he was going to tell us once he got the price for both buying the new system and the installation. He did say that he's just buying a newer version of the same system, so it should be only a small raise that will only last until he recuperates what he put into the installation."

"Hmm, from what I remember about him, Cid's a pretty reasonable guy when it comes to things like this. Although this is a good alternative than trying to talk him out of it and then having to face the wrath of his colorful mouth. Anyway, good luck with all this," Riku added before picking up his briefcase and following the crowd to the exit.

"As if I need any luck to get myself through this, but thanks for that. And I'll make sure to go home and sleep instead of staying here all night," he added while the other simply waved a hand as an answer and left.

A couple of minutes after their conversation, the spiky haired teen was all alone in the office again. Even Xemnas had left the area without bothering him about staying late. He was probably afraid to do so after last night's hysterics show he put on. At least he did not have to think of another excuse for him. That saved him a lot of time and aggravation.

_Just ten more minutes before Rox starts talking again,_ Sora thought with a sigh as he suddenly remembered what he had to go through back at the Twilight Town Consulate after winding down from a long days' worth of work. He then continued on as he signed himself onto the secure proxy server to prepare himself, _I'm going to make sure he doesn't hear the end of it when he talks about it._

And just like it was with last night, seven came around and was sounded off with words popping up onto the screen.

**So how did it go, Sora?** Rox typed in with apparent eagerness that was possibly equal to that of a child receiving a Christmas present. **Did you manage to get my message to the people at the consulate?**

** Oh, I got the message to them alright,** Sora responded with a huff of his breath in annoyance. **Just what was the big idea, anyway? You said that they would understand what I was talking about when I asked for Department X and told them about the thing with the cats. All I did was make a fool out of myself because they said that there was no such thing! Mind explaining it to me?**

** But that doesn't make sense,** the other person responded with apparent confusion laced in his words after a slight pause. **The people at the consulate should've clearly understood what you were saying. Did you do exactly what I told you to do?**

** I went to the secretary's desk and asked for Department X. She then called someone down, and that person said that there was no such thing.**

** Who exactly did you end up talking to?**

** I'm not sure on his first name, but his last name was Hakujou,** the teen typed after a slight pause to remember the old man's name. **He was an old guy who looked like he had a bad back. Anyway, he seemed a bit confused when I mentioned your screen name and thought I was talking about something to drink.**

** Strange, Xehanort was the best person you could've spoken to about all this,** Rox responded, his confusion quickly growing with each word typed. **Something definitely isn't right about this.**

** Do you know what's not right about all this? It's having you making me do all these weird things without telling me why I'm doing it!** Sora typed as he made sure his annoyance at everything was being portrayed in his words. **Don't you think it's time that you told me just what's going on here that you're forcing me to sound like an idiot to some of the most important people on Destiny Island? Until you give me a good enough reason as to why I'm doing all this for you, I'm not helping you out again. And don't even think about lying to me, because you know that I can catch it!**

For a few seconds, everything was quiet on the other person's end of things. Apparently, the teen had struck a chord somewhere and was forcing the other to think about what he had just said. He did feel a bit guilty at sounding angry at somebody who sounded sincere about everything, but that was quickly squashed down when he remembered how ridiculous he felt and how he almost got in trouble for being late back to work.

**I suppose it's fair that you know what's going on here,** the other finally typed with a sigh in his words. **Were you somebody who didn't know how to read emotions through electronic communication, I would say that you'd have a hard time believing what I'm about to tell you.**

** Why don't you try me?** the teen retorted with a snort of his breath.

**You can choose whether to believe it or not, but I'm a secret intelligence agent,** Rox bluntly stated while seemingly ignoring the sarcastic remark from earlier. **I work for the TIB, otherwise known as the Twilitian Intelligence Bureau.**

For a moment, Sora was completely taken aback at what the other had just typed in. He reread the short sentence to see if the other was simply pulling his leg, but he could not sense any kind of sarcasm or even a hint of a lie from it all. He then decided to type in once the shock had dissipated somewhat, **You're not pulling my leg here, are you? You really work for the Twilitian Intelligence Bureau?**

** That's what I just said,** Rox responded as he could just imagine the other one giving off a confirming nod of his head. **I was on assignment over here and about to return home when I discovered that I couldn't. That was when I decided to contact someone through this proxy, and that's how I came to you for help.**

** But if you're really a secret intelligence agent for Twilight Town, then why are you asking me to help you get home?** the teen asked with raised eyebrows and deciding that the other really was telling the truth about who he really was.** Why don't you just contact the consulate yourself and spare me the embarrassment?**

** I'm really sorry that you felt embarrassed because of this, but I already tried to contact them myself. For some reason, I couldn't connect with anybody. That's why I had to turn to someone else for help. And before you ask, I picked Destiny Island because I just happen to live there, so that particular consulate should know who I am.**

** You know, I think there was something strange about my conversation with Xehanort when I think back to it,** Sora typed in as he suddenly remembered how the old man had reacted at certain parts of the conversation. **It was kind of hard to tell, but he seemed to have been surprised when I said the thing about the cats and then your screen name. He hid it well by sounding like I was just talking nonsense, but I kind of got the feeling that he did know what I was talking about.**

** I wouldn't be surprise if he held back because you're just a regular person in his eyes. It's not everyday someone normal like you knows secret agent codes.**

** But then wouldn't he have held me back and asked me why I know something like that?** the spiky haired teen asked with raised eyebrows. **He wouldn't have just let me leave without asking anything. Even I would've done that if I heard someone told me a secret code that they shouldn't be able to know.**

**That's also what's confusing me here,** Rox responded with worry now combining with his confusion. **Anyway, it's clear now that the consulate won't be of much help in getting me out of here. It seems like you really are the only one I can trust to help get me back home now.**

** Hey, now that I know who you really are and that you're not lying, I'll be more than happy to help you out,** the teen responded happily as he suddenly felt compelled to help the other person to the best of his ability. You can call him too trustworthy with people, but he always had a knack to tell when people had good or bad intentions; and he could only sense the good with the TIB agent. He then typed in a sort of enthusiastic fashion,** So what is it that you want me to do next?**

**Why can I just imagine you having a big smile on your face right now as you're typing this?** the other asked in what felt like to have been a chuckle. **Anyway, I do have another plan to get me home. Don't worry; you won't have to go to the consulate again,** he added just as the teen made a scowl. **All you have to do is to go to my house and get something for me.**

** Are you giving me permission to break into your house? Wow, I never thought that I'd hear someone telling me to do that anytime soon.**

** Legally, it's not breaking and entering if the owner of the place gives you permission to enter. But in this case where I'm not around, I do suggest that you be careful not to be caught. I'm obviously not in a position to help you get out of trouble. I hope that you're good with at least some stealth.**

** Even if I weren't, I don't think either of us have any choice in the process. Anyway, what is it that you want me to get at your house?** Sora continued to type as he began to grow more excited at the thought of getting something for a special agent.** Is it some kind of super sophisticated cell phone that will activate something on your end, or is it something that will send a plane over to where you are from here?**

** I don't work for a super spy agency where their members have a license to kill,** Rox responded with the feeling of an amused chuckle. **What I want you to get is something a lot less sophisticated than a cell phone or anything like that. I want you to go and get a cast iron frying pan from my kitchen. It's the only one there, so you can't miss it.**

** Are you serious?** the teen asked after rereading the request a couple of times. Under normal circumstance, he would have figured this to be just a sick joke. **You want me to risk getting caught by someone and being thrown in jail for breaking into your house for a simple frying pan? That had better be some kind of special pan if you really want me to get it.**

** You don't know how special it is. It happens to have the names and phone numbers of four of the contacts that I have spread out all over the world of Destiny Island. They're lightly stenciled onto the bottom of the pan, and they can't be seen unless filled in with dust and wiped off.**

** And you want me to contact them one by one and see who would be able to help you get out of Twilight Town,** the teen finished off as he finally realized just where the other person was getting at with the pan filled with names. **I'm guessing you can't contact them yourself because you don't want the conversation monitored. That and they probably won't respond to anybody talking to them through an unknown server.**

**You catch on pretty quickly,** the other person responded. He then sent out some instructions. **My apartment is just beyond the outskirts of the downtown area. It's close to the port that takes people to the Secluded Islands. It's really the only apartment complex within that general area. I have a key that's hidden within a fire hydrant just outside the entrance. All you have to do is unscrew the cap and take it with you. You know what to do after all that.**

** At least this sounds like a better plan than reciting spy messages to somebody inside the consulate. Seriously though, who came up with something embarrassing as that to say when you find yourself in trouble? Isn't it kind of clichéd? If you happened to talk to the wrong person, then you just blew your cover.**

** Hey, I'm not the one who created the rules here. I just follow them. I guess, though, that us teenagers think alike, huh?**

** What do you mean by "us teenagers?"** Sora typed with an eyebrow raised in confusion after reading that strange comment.

**Sorry, I was just thinking out loud there,** Rox responded in a sort of flustered fashion.** Anyway, could you possibly make your way to my apartment tonight? The sooner I can help me get out of here, the better off I'll be. And just as a word of warning, I suggest that you take a taxi there. The nearest bus stop is about ten blocks away, and I don't think you want to walk around with a frying pan in your hand and looking like an idiot.**

** We haven't even talked for a week, and you already know how I like to operate,** the teen responded with a chuckle and a shake of his head. **Yeah, I can make a side trip to your house before going home myself. Do you think that any of them would be awake by the time I get home and call?**

** I can think of a couple who probably would be. Never know unless you try though, right? Look, I have to go right now. It's just past midnight on my end, and I need to get my sleep if I want to go shopping for food tomorrow. Can't be half asleep and then end up getting caught by the enemy.**

** Yeah, make sure you don't end up getting yourself killed,** the teen typed back with concern as soon as he heard the thought of being captured by the enemy. **And I really mean what I said there.**

** I know you do. You be careful in getting my list of contacts, too. I'll talk to you again tomorrow at the same time. Until then, Sora!**

** Same with you, Rox,** he typed with a sigh as he leaned back in his chair. Now he knew what he was supposed to do next, and it was less embarrassing than just wandering into a consulate and repeat some kind of stupid phrase. But this was simply exchanged with something that could possibly land him in jail if he were caught by somebody.

_Ha, like I'm the one who should be worried about this,_ he thought with a huff of his breath. _Rox is risking his life talking to me just so he can get out of Twilight Town alive. I'll just get jail time if I'm caught, but he'd probably be killed the first chance his enemies get. God, I hope he'll be alright tomorrow._

And with a small sigh, Sora got turned off his computer and got off of his chair. He then put his papers back into his drawer before putting on his jacket and his backpack. He then made his way to the exit with his next destination in mind, Rox's apartment.

Actually, his next destination should be his bank's ATM machine, because he just remembered he only had enough money for the bus fare to bring him home. He definitely needed to dip into his savings a bit if he wanted to make the trip there and back by cab. So now he was off to the ATM to withdraw more money before heading off to the guy's apartment in search for a frying pan filled with names and phone numbers.

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><p>Well, Sora now knows that Rox is really a member of the Twilight Town Intelligence Bureau. How many of you saw that coming? Come on, don't be bashful to say that you didn't.<p>

Anyway, Sora is also starting to show a bit of concern for Rox. To be perfectly honest, that little bit was something I decided to add at the last minute. I'm not sure if I'll expand more on that part, but I'm kind of feeling it happening.

Well, I'll put down the small bio again. That's because we've got an update to a few of the characters.

Xehanort Hakujou: 65 (An old man from the Twilight Town Consulate who does know Rox, but seems to deny it to Sora)

Rox: ? (Somebody from Twilight Town who has revealed himself to be a Twilitian Intelligence Bureau [TIB] agent unable to get home)

Well, that's it for this wonderful chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed this story as much as I had creating it. Until the next update to this or any one of my other stories everybody!


	7. In Search of a Frying Pan

Hello everybody! For those of you wondering and have read my author's notes, you're probably wondering why I'm writing this when I have a bunch of work to do. Truth be told, I've honestly already spent over four hours just to complete one and a half chapters of my homework. I'm done for today after that stupid marathon, and I was still on a writing high, so I figured I would write this.

Anyway, that's enough of my little rant. I'll let you all go on and read this new chapter. It's right now one thirty in the morning here where I am, and I'm damn tired from my four hour homework marathon. Just please don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading that tells you how I did. And just as a little warning, there is a little bit of actual action towards the end of the chapter, although it's only a small bit.

Until the next update to this chapter or any of my stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: In Search of a Frying Pan<strong>

"Are you sure you know where you're going, buddy?" Sora asked as he was currently riding in the back of a taxi cab. Like he promised Rox earlier that evening, he was going to his apartment in order to retrieve a frying pan that contained the name and numbers of four of his contacts here on Destiny Island. "You said that you'd get me there in fifteen minutes. Your meter's registering half an hour already!"

"Hey, it completely my fault that the city decided to have a road construction project right in the middle of your path tonight," a black haired man behind the wheel countered without taking his eyes off of the road. "And I didn't take into account that masked gunman would've come up to us during a stop light and try to rob us. Don't worry, though; I'll only make you pay half the fare because of that."

"Gee, is that supposed to be in compensation for making me feel so unsafe at that moment where you were screaming and flooring it to the limit?" the spiky haired teen questioned sarcastically before letting out a heavy sigh. He had not even made it to his destination yet, and he was already facing danger that had nothing to do with it! What a night this was turning out to be… "Thanks for that."

The rest of the drive was relatively quiet save for the minor grumblings from the driver. Clearly, the other did not want to remember something that was no doubt embarrassing and witnessed by a paying customer. At least he did try to make up for it by cutting the overall cab fare by half.

After a few minutes more of driving around, the sight of the harbor was in view. And in the foreground were a few tall buildings, one of them most likely the apartment complex that Rox called home.

"Alrighty, welcome to the place that you so wanted to come to," the driver announced with a wave of his hand. "I hope you appreciated all the trouble I went through to get you here, and I do hope to get you as a customer again."

"Under normal circumstances, I don't think I'd really want that," Sora responded in tone high with skepticism before moving to open up the door. "However, do you think you could wait for me down here? I'll only be here for a few minutes, and I don't want to get stranded or anything."

"If you really want me to, then just remember that I'm still going to keep the meter running," the man answered with a shrug of his shoulders before pointing to the meter. "I'm not going to wait for you for free, you know?"

"And don't forget that you promised me that you'd only charge me half after that attempted robbery fiasco," the teen countered with a cheeky smile, causing the other to growl in frustration at the potential money flying away at that ill spoken promise. "I'll be keeping you to that promise."

Without waiting for any response, although he did receive a few choice words, he made his way towards a fire hydrant that was in front of the apartment complex. Just as he was instructed, he unscrewed the water cap, which happened to have been surprisingly easy to do, while trying to look inconspicuous. Once off, he kept the knob in his hand while his other felt inside it for a key-like object. Sure enough, his hand brushed against something before pulling it out and revealing it to be said key.

_Guess that means that Rox is telling the truth about everything,_ he thought with amused eyebrows as he began screwing the hydrant cap back on. _I never would've thought that anybody could've hide a key in there. Guess that's how the mind of a spy works, always thinking of ways to keep everything about them safe._

Without wasting any time, he walked up the small set of stairs to the simple wooden door with the key in hand. He quickly inserted it and gave it a jostle before it unlocked and swung open. Pocketing the key until he needed it again, he entered the complex and shut the door behind him.

_Wow, it practically looks like my apartment,_ he absentmindedly wondered as he walked through the rather familiar territory towards a set of stairs. _I thought a spy like him would be living somewhere more expensive-looking than this. Then again, I guess he doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself,_ he continued on with a shrug as he walked all the way up to the top where the spy said he lived.

A few seconds later, he reached the top floor and began making his way down towards the end of the hall. Once he reached the end, a single and simply white painted door was standing in front of him. Feeling confident that this was Rox's apartment, Sora took the key out of his jacket pocket and opened the door with ease before opening it and thus entering the spy's humble abode.

_…Wow, this isn't what I imagined it to be,_ the teen thought as he allowed his eyes to gaze upon the apartment that had more of a penthouse feel. Everything was so neat and well-spaced; it certainly was not like his untidy and rather cramped apartment. Even the kitchen that was merged with the living room area was strategically separated by a marble top counter. _This guy really does live in the best way that he can._

While he was busy basking in his moment of awe and absorbing the rich feel of the apartment, the phone suddenly decided to ring. Startled by the sound, he jumped about a good foot or so before whipping his head towards the source of the sound on a table that was on a table in the living room area.

_Damn, does he have to set the ringing volume that loud?_ he mentally cursed while trying to get his racing heartbeat down. _That thing might end up getting me caught here._

After a couple more rings, it stopped and the sound of an answering machine starting up came to the teen's ears.

"_Hey, Roxas Tasogare here,_" a voice that sounded like it came from a teenager was heard breaking the silent emptiness of the room. "_If you're hearing this, then that obviously means I'm out right now. Just get back to me, and I'll leave you a message. W-wait a minute; I got that mixed up!_" the recorded voice was heard quickly correcting himself. This enticed a laugh of amusement from Sora at hearing the spy on the machine sound flustered from that simple mistake as he walked over to the black machine. "_I meant to leave _me_ a message, and I'll get back to _you_ as soon as I can. Sorry about that. Anyway…, I'll catch you when I have the time!_" the last part was rushed before the sound of a beep was heard and signifying that the recorded message portion had begun. He could just imagine the guy blushing like crazy while making that recording.

_Yeesh, I can't believe this spy guy I'm helping sounds like a teenager,_ the teen thought with raised eyebrows once he had reached the table where the machine was. _And he sounds like he doesn't like it when he makes a mistake. _His thoughts were cut off, however, upon hearing a woman's voice on the machine.

"_Hi Roxas, this is Ollete!_" the woman who sounded like a high school senior introduced herself in a tone that also sounded like a teenager. "_You're still not back from visiting your grandparents? I know you said your cell phone is in the shop, but don't you think you should buy a backup? This is the fifth time I've tried calling you already. Anyway, please call me back as soon as you can so that me and the others know you're okay._"

And with a concerned sigh, the woman who called herself Ollete, hung up the phone and stopped the machine's recording process. The little black box then flashed a red light that most likely indicated that there were missed calls on it.

_So, the guy's real name's Roxas Tasogare,_ Sora thought with an amused smile as he looked down at the machine with curiosity. _I wonder if he'll mind if I rummaged through his messages a bit._

Without giving it more thought, the teen pressed the button underneath the flashing light and was greeted with a mechanical voice asking to press the button again to play all messages from the beginning. He simply pressed it again and allowed all the accumulated messages to start playing.

"_Hey, it's Pence,_" another teenaged voice, this one obviously belonging to a guy, was heard greeting cheerfully. The teen decided to let his eyes wander around while the messages played. "_Ollete's planning on having a surprise party for Hayner's nineteenth birthday tomorrow. Just giving you a heads up before she comes knocking at your door and demands you go shopping with her for party supplies. That and I have a feeling she's going to try and persuade you to use your place for the party. Anyway, talk to you later!_"

As the message ended and shifted onto the next, Sora began looking at the pictures that were placed on top of drawers along the walls. One in particular caught his attention because of something written in black ink on the photo. Curious, he walked over to it so he could get a better look at it.

"_Hi Roxas!_" the other person, who he immediately recognized to have been Ollete's, greeted excitedly just as the spiky haired teen reached the photo and picked it up into his hands. Feeling that it was most likely going to be a repeat of what he just heard, he tuned the message out of his mind and concentrated to the picture.

As he carefully examined it, he saw the words on the photo that read, "To Roxas, from the gang. Happy eighteenth birthday! Summer of 2011," on it. In the background were four teenagers, two guys and one girl surrounding a light brown spiky haired guy who was holding birthday balloons in his hands and smiling like an idiot, in swimsuits and apparently on the beach. The blond haired male teen in camo shorts had one of his semi muscular arms over the birthday boy in black and white shorts while the other slightly chubby male teen in red and black shorts simply looked on with a huge grin as if he had been laughing only moments before. The girl in a sun yellow one piece was standing on the other side and waving enthusiastically to the camera. The one thing that was an apparent constant was that each teen had what looked to be a sea blue Popsicle stick in their hands and having nothing but complete and innocent fun in front of a blazing orange horizon.

_Wow, looks like they're pretty close,_ Sora thought with a longing sigh as a twinge of jealousy struck through his heart momentarily. _I wish I had friends like that growing up. Riku's a good guy and all, but I wanted to hang out with other people. Too bad I'm just not good talking to other people._

Before he could continue on with his train of thought that was slowly driving him to depression, he heard the message finish and progress onto another one. Apparently, Roxas was out for a while to have more than three on it.

"_How you doing, Roxas?_" the person, this time a different male, was heard greeting happily with seemingly boundless energy. "_It's your brother from another mother here. Come on; I know you're home right now. Don't think about not answering, or I'll beat you to a pulp the next time I see you._"

"_No need for you stupid threats, Hayner,_" the sound of Roxas' voice suddenly cut in, causing Sora to put the picture down and turn towards the answering machine in reflex. Upon seeing nobody there, he figured that it was just the other having picked up the phone during the recording session. "_I just got out of the shower, you know?_"

"_Ooohhh, did you finally get yourself hooked up with a boyfriend and went crazy?_" the other person known to be Hayner was heard asking in a suggestive tone. Even for a recording, it was not hard to imagine him wigging his eyebrows as he said that.

"_Get your mind out of the gutter, and stop bugging me about my lack of a love life!_" the light brown spiky haired teen responded with an annoyed sigh, although Sora thought he heard a hint of amusement in it, as well. "_If anything, I should be driving you crazy at you always manage to pick girls who date you just so they can get their real boyfriends jealous. Anyway, just hold tight for a minute while I turn off this stupid answering machine._"

As the message ended, another one quickly came on. This one was from Pence again talking about something that was relatively unimportant. Sora simply zoned him out and picked up another picture that held a single person on it. He knew that this was Roxas from the other party picture, and he was dressed in simple gray pants with black along the top sides held with a checkered belt and a white short-sleeve jacket over a black shirt that showed off his somewhat skinny arms. His bright blue eyes shined with happiness as his wide smile reflected that same emotion while his light brown spiky hair was being ruffled by a hand who's owner was not in the picture.

The teen was soon quickly snapped out of his musing when he heard a strange creaking noise coming from the doorway. Startled, he glanced over to the door and saw that it was slowly closing by itself. Apparently, he had left it open by mistake, but then why would it choose now to close by itself?

_…I gotta get out of here!_ the teen thought as he quickly put the picture back on the drawer and sped walked into the kitchen. He then continued to think as he quietly rummaged through the drawers, _I can't get caught in here by somebody and then be thrown to jail. Now where is that cast iron frying pan he said I needed?_

After a couple more seconds of searching, he finally found the pan hiding inside the oven for some odd reason. Thinking that it would not look good if someone caught him exiting the apartment with the pan in hand, he tucked it away in his jacket and hugged himself as if he were trying to warm himself up.

With his deed now down, he quickly made his way towards the door and back to his awaiting cab. However, something that was on the door caught his eye before he opened it. Quickly studying it, he noticed that it was a picture of him with one of Roxas's pictures in his hands.

_What the…?_ Sora thought, now officially getting freaked out by this before quickly exiting the hallway at a very fast speed-walk pace. He kept a watchful eye for anybody who might be in the hallway and might have a camera with them. _Who the hell took a picture of me while I was in there? Is that what why the door closed so suddenly. Whatever; I'll just go home and call the guys on this pan._

In less time than it took him to get to the top floor, the teen made it to the ground floor and was out the door to the outside. He still had Roxas' key in his pocket, but he was not going to stop to put it back into the fire hydrant when there was somebody stalking him and probably still nearby. Thankfully, his taxi cab was still waiting there for him, so he simply jumped into the back seat and sat back in relaxation.

"Sorry it took so long!" he apologized as he patted at the back of the driver's seat with his free hand. "I got a bit preoccupied and lost the time. You can go ahead and take me back to my apartment now."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this cab already has a predetermined destination in mind," the cab driver who did not sound anything like the teen had remembered responded. It was deeper and less carefree. "Don't worry, though; the people at this stop have been wanting to meet you for a while now."

Suddenly, the mysterious person turned around and pointed something black and metallic object at him. Sora quickly recognized the item to be a gun, and it was currently pointed at him by a blond haired man with a slightly wrinkled face. All he could do at that point beside stare back in shock was scream!

"I suggest that you shut up if you want to live," the man calmly responded. When the teen did not stop his screaming, the man cocked the hammer of his gun in warning. This immediately caused Sora to shut up and simply stare back wide eyed and shocked at what was happening. "Our boss has had his eyes on you ever since you got yourself involved in something that doesn't concern you. Don't worry; we're not going to kill you since you know something that we don't."

Without saying anything else, the man turned back around and started the taxi cab. He then added in a sort of gloating tone, "And by the way, the meter's not running anymore. You don't have to worry about paying."

_As if that's the last thing on my mind right now!_ Sora thought as he felt his heartbeat race and his breath pick up when the cab started to move. He was practically being kidnapped right now by some guy with a gun who said his boss wanted to see him. _I just wanna go home and talk to the people on this pan. I don't want to get kidnapped and have god knows what done to me! How the hell am I going to…?_

Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. He remembered that he still had the frying pan hidden within his jacket, and his kidnapper should not have been able to see it since he had not taken it out yet. Figuring that it was the only weapon he had right now and that the gun was now not pointed at him, he had a clear shot to get out of this mess. He also really had nothing to lose right now save his life, which happened to already be in danger.

_God, please help me get out of this alive!_ he inwardly prayed as he slowly brought his right hand into his jacket. Once he felt the handle, he quickly took the pan out and swung it right at the man's exposed right temple.

"What the...!" the man exclaimed with a shout of pain from being suddenly hit. The cab then started to speed up and waver a bit. He had apparently lost consciousness from the initial impact since he did not try to regain control.

"Sorry, but I got better things to do than to be kidnapped by you!" Sora shouted as he opened the cab door and made a daring jump out of it before things got any more treacherous. Amazingly, he managed to land on his feet with nothing more than a bit of a stumble before the taxi started to speed up and become more hazardous in its turns. Yep, the kidnapper was definitely out of it right now.

Once he regained his footing, he looked over to the taxi and just caught it as it finally grew too out of control and rolled over onto its side. With a wince at every time the sound of metal hit the concrete, the teen quickly turned around and ran down the opposite direction. He did not care where he was going right now; all he wanted to do now was get as far away as he could from his kidnapper.

Thankfully, he vaguely remembered Roxas saying that there was a bus stop ten blocks away from his place, and he began running around in search for it. A few minutes later, he saw a bus stopped on the side dropping off people and managed to catch it just before it was about to leave. The driver gave him a weird look when he saw the pan in his hand, but he just left him alone.

_Damn, I can't believe I just got out of that!_ he thought as he sat down and caught his breath. _If this is what Roxas has to deal with when he goes on a mission, then I certainly don't want to consider becoming a spy anytime soon. I'm way too young to be put in death defying moments like that!_

And he continued to rest and let his mind race between how he almost got kidnapped and how he got out of it until he finally made it safely back home.

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><p>Well, I hope that this chapter was okay for you guys. Sorry to those who felt that the answering machine portion was a bit long, but that was the only way where I could get some major background information into Rox, now known in this story as Roxas, for you all to read. I decided to go with my last minute plan from the last chapter and work on the relationship between Sora and Roxas.<p>

So I hope that you liked the background information that I put for Roxas. And here's a new bio for him now that we know who he really is.

Roxas Tasogare: 18 (A spy who just recently celebrated his eighteenth birthday and seemingly keeps his identity secret from his friends)

Hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, since I'm right now dead tired, I'll explain what each of the last names mean if you're all curious. Until then, don't forget to leave a review telling me how you like it and what I could possibly do to make it better. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!


	8. Meeting With a Spy Contact

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for this story for you all to read. Sorry for being short here, but I lost all these comments I made because I saved it and it didn't follow through. So please leave a comment before you leave.

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><p><strong>Chapter 8:<strong>** Meeting With a Spy Contact**_  
><em>

_Geez, what in the world did I get myself into tonight?_ Sora wondered as he was busy scrubbing away at the bottom of the frying pan he had obtained from Roxas's apartment earlier that evening. _I didn't exactly sign up for near-death experiences when I agreed to help Roxas get out of Twilight Town._

As far as the teen knew right now, he was safe at home with nobody possibly keeping watch over him. Then again, the security system that Cid said he was planning on installing a couple of days ago did not come in yet, so the outer gate was still alarmed and well protected. That at least gave him some piece of mind.

_Who could be so interested in me that they had to kidnap me just to bring me to them?_ he continued to think before clearing away the suds from the pan with a towel and still not seeing anything written on it and starting with the scrub again. He was using those powdered sink cleaners with a bit of water, but it right now was not promising to be a very good solution. _If this has anything to do with all this spy business, then I don't know a damn thing! But of course, they won't believe me if I said that. All they could possibly know is that I managed to have some kind of contact with Roxas. I guess that's enough to want to go kidnapping somebody off the streets in a spy's enemy's crazy mind. Oh boy, tomorrow and the days after that just can't get any worse than tonight, can it?_

_But seriously, the guy's got to be naturally brave to be doing stuff like this,_ he thought as a small smile of admiration started to appear on his face while his hands still continued to make the writing under the pan legible._ That and if I read the note on his birthday photo right, he's practically the same age as me! He must've done a mind-blowingly good job with the entrance exam or whatever it is they use to see if people can be good spies. And I have to admit that he's pretty cute to boot, too. He didn't sound like he was even trying to argue against being gay when Hayner teased him about it on the answering machine… I wonder if he isn't taken yet,_ he thought with a slight dreamy look in his eyes.

As he continued to daydream about the spy currently in trouble, he continued to slave away at the sink just so he can see a set of names and numbers that should be on the back of the pan. And after spending a couple more minutes scrubbing and wiping, some words finally became somewhat legible. So with one more dusting and droplets of water accompanied by more vigorous scrubbing, he was finally able to clearly read four sets of names with a phone number under each of them.

"Hey, now we're getting somewhere!" he exclaimed happily out loud to himself as he brought the pan over to his small and slightly messy living room and placed it on top of the coffee table next to his phone. "Now all I have to do is call each of these people and see if they'll be able to help Roxas get back home. I'm sure they will once I explain everything to them. I just hope none of them end up becoming a repeat with the taxi incident," he added in a slightly worried tone before banishing the thought from his mind.

As he took the phone into his hands, the teen began to read off the names starting from the top. His eyes quickly read the name Therxia Nagrobshigou along with a set of numbers directly underneath it.

"I guess I'll start with this person," he said with a shrug as he began to punch in the correct numbers. "That's the strangest name I ever heard of, though. I wonder what kind of parents this person had?"

Once he was done dialing, he was met with the sound of the phone ringing, meaning that the other end of the line was not currently busy. And after a couple of rings had passed, somebody on the other end had picked it up.

"_Hello, this is the Nagrobshigou residence,_" the person on the other end greeted in a formal and semi-low tone. "_How may I help you?_"

"Hi, I was wondering if Therxia Nagrobshigou is home right now," Sora asked while trying to sound both formal and blunt at the same time. He had no idea who this person was, so it definitely was not a good idea to say anything that could piss her off. "I would like to speak with her about something important please."

"_I'm sorry, but the mistress is currently out right now,_" the man simply answered in that still formal tone. "_I'm her head butler. Would you like for me to relay a message for you once she returns?_"

"Um, you can ask her to call me back whenever she has the chance to," the teen simply responded, not wanting to prolong the conversation when it was not who he was originally looking for. "My name's Sora Hikari. And my phone number is 874-…"

Before he could finish reciting his phone number to the maid, he heard an unusual clattering coming from outside the hallway. This caused him to stop momentarily and snap his head in the direction of his doorway as if he were expecting somebody to come busting through it any minute now.

_God, I'm feeling more on edge than usual tonight,_ he thought while heaving a sigh of relief when nothing broke down his door and came rushing in. _Then again, I guess nearly being kidnapped can do that to you._

"_Sir, are you still there?_" he suddenly heard the butler inquire with ever the smallest hints of concern in his voice.

"Uh, sorry about that. I-I thought I heard someone knocking at my door. Anyway, my phone number is 874-5448."

"_Alright, I'll make sure that she gets the message when she returns. I can't guarantee that it'll be soon, though._"

"Thank you, sir," the teen thanked before he hung up his end of the connection. He then quickly referred to the pan and read the next number on the list with the determination on trying to get somebody's help tonight.

_Wait a minute,_ Sora wondered as he suddenly remembered something while dialing. _This guy's name is Hayner Ryoushuu. What are the chances that this is the same guy that I heard back in Roxas's apartment on the answering machine? It's pretty slim, but it'd be one hell of a coincidence if they're the same person._

Figuring that he would probably be getting his answer in the next few seconds, he stopped his thought process and waited for the other person to pick up. The person on the other end picked much faster than the first phone call.

"_Hello, this is Hayner speaking!_" the person on the other end answered in a familiarly energetic tone that could practically light up even the most depressed person's day. He then continued on in that cheerful tone that knew no bounds, "_Thanks for taking the time to call me. Mind telling me who you are? And you'd better not be some kind of crank caller, or I'll trace your call and beat you to a pulp when I find you. Don't think that I can't, because you can't possibly know what I do for a living._"

_Yep, that sounds exactly like the same guy from Roxas's answering machine,_ Sora thought with a smirk and a small chuckle that he could not keep stifled because of the unusual greeting he received. He then said out loud after taking a deep breath, "That's quite a way to be greeting somebody who's taking the time to call you. And I promise you Hayner; I'm anything but a crank caller."

"_Wow, I don't even know you, and you're already putting me on a first name basis,_" the other responded in what oddly felt like friendly teasing along with amusement at how well he had taken the rather rough and threatening greeting. "_Anyway, who are you, and why are you calling me so close to midnight?_"

"S-sorry, I didn't know it was already that late," the teen admitted as his cheeks reddened a bit from embarrassment at calling so late. "I'll try not to take too long then. My name's Sora Hikari; I'm an acquaintance of Roxas Tasogare. He wanted me to relay a message to you," he guessed when he realized that they did not discuss what to relay. Then again, both the person he was calling and the other he just mentioned were secret agents, so maybe this guy would know what the secret code meant.

As he was thinking about the code that was now less embarrassing to think about saying, he felt an air of tension coming from the other end along with a couple seconds of silence. It honestly unnerved the spiky haired teen a bit to sense such a change in attitude in such a short amount of time. He could practically see the hard look and intense contemplation all over the other's face as if he were standing right there next to him.

"_…I want us to meet up down at the harbor tonight, _Hayner suddenly requested with a tone reflecting nothing but seriousness. "_We'll meet there in about half an hour and I'll hear what you have to say._"

"I'm sorry, but could we do this sometime tomorrow during the daylight hours?" Sora suggested with a shrug of his shoulders while trying to get over the fact that he had sounded so energetic just moments earlier. "I've already had a pretty long and hectic day, and I don't really feel safe meeting anybody in the middle of the night. That and I have to get up early for work tomorrow," he added in an attempt to not meet up so late at night.

"_Sorry, but I have an important meeting to go to tomorrow that'll take all day,_" the other simply responded in that same serious tone that did not sound anything like his original carefree attitude. "_I'd skip it in a heartbeat if I could, but I'm obligated to attend. Anyway, I'd rather that we meet sooner rather than later, especially when you claim to have information regarding Roxas. Try to meet me down there in thirty minutes down by the loading area where the warehouses are. I'll see you then._"

"H-hey, I didn't agree to meet you tonight!" the teen exclaimed, but it was no use and was instead greeted with the sound of the other end disconnecting. He then said out loud as he put the phone down on the table next to the pan, "Geez, I just came back from near that stupid harbor. At least I know the bus line has a stop near there and that I won't have to risk my life riding in the back of a cab again. Oh, I hope that the guy still isn't there wandering around looking for me."

And for the second time that evening, the spiky brown haired teen had his thin blue jacket on and found himself heading towards the direction of the harbor. This time, however, he was going into the harbor and taking a bus line that stopped relatively close to there. Hopefully, the guy who tried to kidnap him earlier was already long gone from there whether of his own free will of through medical help. He highly doubted, though, that he got away on his own since the sight and sound of the crash seemed rather intense.

Before he knew it, the bus ride had finally arrived just short of the harbor, and Sora found himself walking around the dock area a couple seconds later. He soon found the designated warehouse area that Hayner said they were to meet in order to discuss things about Roxas. Apparently, he had arrived earlier than he had intended, but it was better than arriving late and completely missing the spy.

"Seriously, what in the world am I doing tonight?" he wondered out loud as he shifted his weight between his legs. "I've already gotten both into and out of a kidnapping scenario, and yet here I am sticking my neck out for the chopping block again. I couldn't be more dumb of a person. I might as well just start shouting my head off and alert anybody wanting to kill me that I'm here. Is that what my life wants me to do right now?"

"I think what life really wants you to do is to shut up!" he heard a voice suddenly cut in before feeling both something pointy pointed at his back and a gloved hand covering his mouth to prevent the scream that would have escaped. "You don't want any enemies that might be nearby to come and kill us, do you?"

All the spiky brown haired teen could respond with was a series of muffled screams that were well insulated by both hand and glove. He soon felt whatever object that was pricking at his back, most likely a gun, being removed and was replaced with the now free hand frisking him for whatever it was the person was looking for.

"Sorry for treating you like some kind of criminal," the other person responded without much of a care. "I can't really be too sure about who anybody is nowadays. Then again, I'm sure you know all about these procedures."

"Gah, you didn't have to scare me like that!" Sora retorted in a remarkably reasonable tone as he finally turned around to see who was frisking him. It turned out to be none other than Hayner whose face he clearly recognized from one of Roxas's pictures. "Were you trying to give me a stupid heart attack?"

"That's far from what I had in mind, Sora," Hayner quickly discarded the rhetorical question as he stopped with his pat down and took the teen by the hand and led him on a little walk. "Let's just hurry up and get to the reason why we're here. I have some questions that I want answered from you."

"As long as you don't take me by surprise again, shoot away," the spiky haired teen answered with a sneer, not realizing the pun he had just made. He then added in an undertone, "I've had enough surprises tonight to last me a while."

"First of all, tell me what organization you're working for," the blond haired agent asked in a serious questioning tone that seemed completely out of character for him. "I would like to know just whose representative I'm talking to.

"I work for the Destiny Island International Bank receiving and exchanging monies to other banks from different worlds. If you don't believe me, then you can just talk to my boss tomorrow when you have the chance."

"No, I'm not talking about what you chose as your cover-up choice. I meant what spy agency sent you here?"

"Whoa, wait a minute, buddy! Stop trying to move ahead of me here. I couldn't be any further from working for any kind of spy agency. Don't you think that was apparent when I almost screamed my head off when you put a gun on my back? I don't think any spy worth their salt would react like that."

"…I suppose you did act pretty unprofessional there for no particular reason. But then that could only mean one thing. Are you telling me then that you're just a regular person who really works at the bank every day doing transactions?"

"Well, I'm definitely not working there for my health or because I love it!" Sora bit back bitterly as the other gave off a look of shock. "I need to make a living like every other normal person around here. The only reason why I'm even out here this time of night is because I agreed to help Roxas out."

"And how the hell do you even know who Roxas is?" the blond asked, obviously completely shocked at how a person who was not a spy became privy to such information. "There's no possible way you should know anything about him. Hell, even his closest friends have no idea what he really does for a living."

"And he's right now using the excuse of visiting his grandparents as a way to throw Ollete and Pence off the trail from what he's really doing," the teen finished off, admiring the look of even more shock appearing on the spy's face. "I went to the guy's apartment at his request to get some stupid frying pan that had your name and phone number along with those of other spies. You're the second person I've tried calling because the first one is out doing god knows what while her servants are keeping her house up?"

"And how do you even have any kind of contact with my most trusted ally who also happens to be one of my best buddies?"

"He somehow managed to hack into my work computer through a proxy server he created that only he and I can get into because only us two know the password. He did it so that he could get somebody to help him after failing to get it from his other spy friends. He told me to tell you the same thing that he had me try telling the people at the Twilight Town Consulate this secret message that makes absolutely no sense to me! He said to say, "Cats are dead. Need a new set of claws!"

"He didn't really tell you to say that, did he?" Hayner asked in shock and merely received an annoyed nod. "I guess that proves you really are just a regular person since you sure didn't come up with that code on the fly. All the same, I'm afraid that what you said is just plain impossible. Word's already out from the consulate that Roxas was killed in action," he continued on as his voice picked up a more somber tone. "That was a little over two weeks ago when that was reported."

"Wh-what are you talking about, Hayner?" Sora asked as it was now his turn to be shocked at what he was hearing. "There's no way he could be dead. I just talked to him tonight before leaving work. How do you think I managed to figure out your name along with other spies were on the back of his frying pan or even how to enter his apartment in the first place? And I know that you're best friends with him as well as his next door spy partner, so you would've known if I had any kind of contact with him."

"Are you sure you're not some kind of spy? You sure know a lot about the both of us through just one little trek through his house."

"I went through his answering machine that he apparently didn't bother to empty out since even before he left for Twilight Town. I kind of have a memory for those things when they're fresh in my mind."

"Remind me to never ask you to look for something in my house for as long as I live," the blond responded with a sigh before quickly snapping his head around to look behind him. He then responded without tearing his eyes away from the warehouse buildings, "Why don't we continue on with our little walk?"

"Don't you get enough exercise running around during your missions?" Sora asked as he was practically forced into moving alongside the spy at a slightly quick pace that oddly grew faster with each passing second. "Uh, is there any particular reason why we're moving so fast? I thought you said your meeting's tomorrow afternoon."

"The meeting's the last thing on my mind right now," Hayner responded in a tone of urgency as he kept his head straight and continued walking towards the edge of the dock where the water was sloshing around underneath them.

"Well, do you mind telling me what's going on so I'm not left alone in the dark?" the teen asked as he took a glance ahead and noticed they were getting closer to the edge of the dock and showing no signs of stopping. "And just to tell you, we're running out of dock space here. Hey, did you hear me?"

And before he could say anything else regarding the rapid loss of walking space in front of them, he felt the rather brash hand around his arm go away. He did not have a chance to enjoy the blood flow being restored to his slightly numb appendage before feeling something pushing him off the dock and into the water below.

Not even having the chance to scream out in surprise, he felt gravity taking control and causing him to inevitably fall forward into the relatively calm waters below. Before he did so, however, he managed to turn his body around and see the blond that had most likely pushed him turn his back on him with his gun at the ready in his left hand.

Without registering what was going on in those exact moments and simply acting on pure adrenaline, Sora reached out his arm to grab whatever he could to help try regaining his balance. As a result, he grabbed onto Hayner's arm that was still somewhat outstretched from the push and inevitably pulled the spy down into the freezing water with him. This forced out from the other a shout of surprise that was quickly drowned out by two sharp sounds that pierced the peaceful serenity of the star-filled night sky.

"Graahhh!" the shout that was combined with both surprise and pain was heard just before the sound of two bodies almost simultaneously falling into the chilly liquid. Whatever left the spy cried out or wanted to say was immediately drowned out by both the sudden chill and water entering his mouth.

"God, that's cold!" the teen said in a high pitch voice that could barely be heard. "What were you thinking trying to push me in?"

"Shut up and get under the dock!" the blond spy growled out through clenched teeth as he dragged the other under said port. It was clear that he was in pain, but it was hard to tell what kind with the water constantly hitting against him.

"Damn, can't believe I missed that scrawny kid!" they heard somebody saying in a voice barely above an audible whisper that made it impossible to recognize in any way. The only thing that they could catch was the feminine nature of the words accompanied with a girlish sigh. "Oh well, at least I managed to take out that spy in the process. I'm sure I saw one of my bullets go into his head when he fell in. That shouldn't prove to be too much of a disappointment to the boss. After all, that's one less person to help out that damn spy we trapped in Twilight Town. Better get out of here and report back. That and it wouldn't do to get caught by people who happened to hear those blasted shots."

And without hearing anything else, the two hiding out under the dock heard the sound of footsteps quickly receding away from their current position. Neither of them dared to say a single word until only the comforting sounds of the waves around them were the only thing that reached their ears.

"…Looks like we barely managed to dodge a bullet there," Hayner responded with a heavy sigh accompanied with a small chuckle at his pun before groaning in pain. "I guess I owe you one for dragging me in with you. It's because of your damn quick reflexes that I managed to only get some singed pieces of hair from her bullet."

"Well, at least I know why you tried to drown me," Sora responded with a small smile upon hearing that he managed to save a life tonight. He then asked with a shrug, "But just who the heck was that woman, and what did she have against us?"

"Judging by what she said, he works for one of my team's enemies," the blond asked as he treaded over towards a wooden ladder that was off to the side and connected to the deck. "And I guess it confirms what you said to me about Roxas to be true. Otherwise, why would she say something like that?"

"Then does that mean you finally believe me?" the spiky haired teen asked as he waited for his turn to climb up the wooden dock ladder. "Are you going to help Roxas out and get him back here?"

"I might believe you now, but I'm afraid that it doesn't mean I'll be able to pose much help for either of you," the other responded in a skeptical tone once he reached the top and waited for the teen to climb up. "The stupid thing about any spy agency is that it requires a very long process that you have to go through before they even start to believe you. In their eyes, you're just a single civilian with whom they have no reason to believe until performing a very extensive question and answer session. They probably won't decide to take you seriously for until more than a month."

"A whole month?" Sora exclaimed once he made his way onto the deck and heard his sopping clothes dripping. "There's no way that Roxas is going to want and wait that long to get out. For all I know, he could already be in the enemy's hands with god only knows what being done to him."

"Apart from your wild imagination, I agree with you that he isn't going to sit still that long," Hayner responded with a nod before wincing in pain and quickly bringing his right hand over his left shoulder. "Damn; I was too preoccupied with everything that I didn't even notice I got shot! Then again, it could've been worse."

"A-are you alright?" the spiky haired teen inquired with concern written all over his voice as he watched the blood running through the blonde's fingers when he applied pressure to the wound. "I thought you said a bullet only singed a bit of your hair. Don't you think you should go to the hospital to get that checked out?"

"As if I have any other choice in the matter," the blond responded with a sigh. "I'll just have to figure out a good reason for the doctors as to why I got shot in the shoulder. Anyway, I can't personally help you with this, but I have an idea as to who could. There is a retired spy around here who trained Roxas and took him under his wing when he first joined. Obviously being at the lower rankings, I don't know his real name. However, I've heard that he goes by the name of Ansem. Perhaps he could help you."

"And where can I find him?"

"Sorry, but I can't help you on that. I'm too low on the spy ladder to know about a retired member's whereabouts. However, I've heard rumors that another spy, this one a friend that Roxas befriended when he first joined the spy world, knows where he lives. His name's Axel Karyuu. I wouldn't be surprised if he put him down as a list of contacts on that frying pan you said you got my name from."

"Well, I didn't really look at the other names on it yet, so I guess it's possible that he might be on it. I didn't think that I would have to call every single person on it though, but I guess it can't be helped.

"And about your excuse for the hospital," Sora continued on with a thoughtful tone, "you could always say that you had a little accident while you were cleaning your gun. It's happened before, so they should buy it. And if they ask why nobody ever reported a sound of a gun going off, you could say that you thought it looked cool with those muffler things on it while cleaning and kept it on the whole time."

"…That actually sounds like a pretty good idea," Hayner agreed with a nod of his head, his energetic attitude that the teen first heard on the answering machine coming back. He then asked playfully, "Are you sure you're not just another spy from another world or something like that? If not, then you should seriously consider signing up to become one. You sure know how to come up with excuses on the fly like one."

"Let's just say that living the life of a loner orphan for the whole of your childhood grants you certain skills that guys with parents don't tend to hone on very well," the spiky haired teen responded with a cheeky smile along with a chuckle. This, in turn, caused the other to also let out a small laugh despite the wince of pain his face made from it. "That also includes making up excuses on the fly when those in charge of the orphanage come out to the playground and ask why we're covered in dirt and all that. And no, I don't want to live out the rest of my life dragged into shootouts and being kidnapped like tonight."

"Heh, I can totally see you and Roxas becoming the best of friends in record time," the blond responded with a wide smile. "You two have a lot more in common than you probably think. Then again, I doubt you got into each other's lives what with how important of a point you're both making to bring him home. Maybe you two could try spending some nonbusiness time with each other tomorrow when you chat," he added with a smirk that seemed to hide whatever he meant with the statement. "Anyway, I really ought to get to the hospital and get this bullet out of my shoulder. Now all I have to do is figure out how to explain why my clothes are wet on top of the excuse you gave me."

"Just tell them that you were cleaning it in the bathroom and the shot shocked you so much that you stumbled backward and took out the bath faucet in the process. So unless they ask you some other weird questions, you shouldn't have any problems explaining things to them if you use what I suggested.

"If you don't mind me asking though, how did you become a spy if you can't even worm your way out of explaining awkward situations to the hospital people?" he continued on in a questioning tone. "I thought they all learned these kinds of things in case they got caught by police during their missions or something like that."

"As I said, I'm only a low ranked person," Hayner explained before turning his back on the teen and heading out of the harbor. "That and I never had any reason to practice my excuses unlike you and Roxas.

"And I suggest that you get home before that crazy girl comes back and shoots you down. That and you don't want to get sick and can't help Roxas get home. And don't bother calling me to help you out, because I'll bet this bullet wound isn't going to allow me to do anything crazy for a while. And maybe once my shoulder is better and my best buddy is back here, we can both officially introduce you to our friends Pence and Ollete. I'm more than sure that they'll like you as fast as I did tonight."

"…Sounds like a plan to me," Sora responded to the quickly retreating figure after a slight hesitation. "I'll be looking forward to it!" he quickly added before the blond turned a corner and was presumably on his way to the hospital.

Well, the spiky brown haired teen certainly was not planning on making any friends during this little attempt at securing an escape route for Roxas. And even if he were, he highly doubted that being shot at with the other getting wounded was hardly the normal way at making friends. Then again, he never was good at making friends, so this must have been fate's rather strange and twisted way in helping him make some. And if it were, then maybe fate could try to get rid of the part where he almost gets killed doing so.

"I guess it is better than just hanging out with Riku at every chance I get just because he's the only friend I have," he mumbled to himself with a shrug before feeling a breeze chilling him a bit inside his still soaked clothes. He then quickly started running in an attempt to catch up to Hayner, "Geez, I should've asked him to give a ride home. I'm so not going to go home alone after almost getting killed twice in one night. It's a long shot, but maybe he can hold off the hospital trip until then."

Within a few seconds, he turned the corner and saw the retreating figure of the blond just a few yards away from him. With his soggy sneakers making that strange squeaking sound as he was jogging, the other turned around upon hearing them and was greeted with the sight of the teen running towards him.

"Hayner, do you think you could give me a ride back to my apartment before you go to the hospital?" he asked as he stopped right in front of the other. "After the night I've had, I don't trust the public transportation to help get me home safely."

"Well, I do owe you for saving my life earlier, so I guess you can consider this as the favor being returned," Hayner responded with a nod of his head as he motioned with his head to follow along before turning around. "And that woman who tried to kill us might be keeping tabs on the bus lines and cabs in case you came up and tried to get one. Come on; I parked my car somewhere in here, so it'll be easy for you to get out undetected by her. And if she didn't decide to take an obscenely long time surveying the area, she shouldn't know what it looks like and target us."

"Boy, that sounds like a pretty big if," Sora responded in sarcastic skepticism that he quickly replaced with a chuckle to show that he was just kidding around. And they continued to joke around like that as if they had been good friends for the whole of their life even after they reached the car and started to drive away. And the blond had forgotten all about the bullet that was still lodged in his arm and had stopped bleeding a while ago during their entire trip to the teen's apartment.

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><p>And here's a character bio. Sorry again for being short because the data save did not follow through and erased all my author comments.<p>

Just to say, I was thinking about killing Hayner with the gunshot, but I didn't like the thought of it because I always found him to be cool. So I kept the original idea of Sora being pushed in and tweaked it just a bit so that the teen turned around and dragged the blond in with him before he was shot to death.

Hayner Ryoshou: 19 (He's Roxas' best friend who also happens to be a spy)

Therxia Nagrobshigou: ? (A woman on Roxas' list of contacts who currently can't be reached)

Thir-she-a Nah-grow-b-she-go is my name creation. That's all I own about her.

And here are the meaning of the names. Hikari is light for Sora, Usuakari for Twilight for Riku, Tasogare is another word for twilight for Roxas, Foudre as ice for woman speaking with Xehanort, Hakujou as Heartless for Xehanort, Kuroi as darkness for Xemnas, and Ryoshou stands for leader for Hayner since he seemed like a leader of the gang in the game. That's all the definitions, and they're all japanese except for foudre which is french. They were in the consulate, so a bit of diversity seemed fair there.

Well, hope you liked it. Tried to make attempt at getting Sora some more friends as a sort of mini accomplishment for him after growing up with no friends in the orphanage besides Riku.

Don't forget to leave a review before you go. Again, sorry for being short. Until next update.


	9. Can Things get Any More Difficult?

Hello everybody! Hope you guys are doing well what with Christmas slowly creeping up on us. At least for me, school's over, and that means I should be able to spend more time on these stories once I've finished with all my Christmas shopping. I always make it a rule to get one thing for everybody in my family, but my older brother makes it hard when he's pretty much the polar opposite of me and out of the house enough for me to not know what he would like or want. Oh well, that just means that it's time to break into his room while he's out and snoop around.

But yeah, I hope that you'll all have a great time in the days adding up to Christmas. Now I'm not sure if I want to, but I might be making a Christmas story on one of the games that I like. Again, I'm not sure whether or not I will since it might be a one-shot, and I have trouble writing one-shots because my ideas can never stop with just one chapter if it ends up good. How do you think I manage to come out with all of these different stories. Now if only I could just go back to them and finish them sometime in the future. Anyway, I'll make sure to keep you all posted about it.

Oh, and one more thing. In the last chapter, I made a mistake on one of the character's last names. The name is Foudre, and I said that the french definition was Ice. Unfortunately, I made a mess-up on that. It actually means Lightning in respect to how I best associate the character with. I was angry when I made the author note after saving it and having it not register it and erasing it all. But yeah, that's the fix-up; Foudre is french for Lightning. And yes, everybody's last name holds some connection to the characters of Kingdom Hearts, so who do you all think has something to do with Lightning and is a blond haired woman?

Now that all of that stuff is out of the way, I'll let you go ahead and start reading this new chapter that I posted. Sorry for it taking a few days, but finals took priority before everything else. Don't forget to leave me a nice review after you're done reading so I can tell how you all liked this and see what kind of suggestions you might have for it. They are always very helpful and provide me motivation to finish this. Until the next update on this or one of my other stories that I need to finish up one of these days everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Can Things get Any More Difficult?<br>**

For the rest of the night after coming home from the hectic time at the harbor, Sora slept like a rock without any kind of disturbances. But because of all the craziness he suffered through last night, he forced himself to wake up and call Xemnas saying that he was not going to make it to work before he got chewed out for not appearing without calling in the reason why. When asked by the man why he could not come, he simply said that he was feeling sick and did not want to spread it to the others. Being that he was practically half-asleep and did gain a sort of sore throat from being in drenched clothing for a while, it was practically no acting required for the excuse. Needless to say, the man bought it like a fish biting at bait on a fisherman's hook. He then went back to sleep and did not wake up until just past twelve.

Thankfully, his semi sore throat was something that could easily be fixed with a couple of cough drops and some cough medicine. That was a good thing because his main reason for calling in sick was so that he would be able to continue on his mission to try and get somebody to help Roxas get out of Twilight Town in one piece. And he knew just who to talk to next and kept repeating the name in his head as he took a shower so as to not forget about it.

Once he was done with the shower, he quickly dried himself off and put on a pair of blue jeans and a red long sleeved shirt in case he needed to go out later. He then made his way to the living room where he left the frying pan last night and began looking it over for the name that Hayner gave him last night, Axel Karyuu.

"If he's not on here, then I'm just going to have to find another way to talk to this Ansem guy," he murmured as he turned the pan around and began reading off the last two names on it. "Hey, looks like I'm in luck this afternoon. Axel's name is on here. All I'll have to do is call him and see if he can help me get through to Ansem. And if he doesn't work, then I'll have to call this last person called Xion Mecha. Wait a minute, they both have the same phone number," he discovered as he did a double take on both name's phone numbers. "Maybe they just happen to live together. That just makes things easier for me."

And before something else came up, he picked up the phone he had left on the desk next to the pan and began dialing the number on the pan. He was then greeted with a couple of ring tones before the sound of somebody on the other end picked up.

"_Hey, Axel here,_" the person introduced himself in a semi light tone that sounded like a mixture of seriousness and playfulness. "_Hope you got it memorized, because I'm not going to repeat it again. So who's bugging me here?"_

"Wow, that sounds like a pretty good way to get somebody to hang up on you," Sora responded sarcastically before letting out an amused huff of his breath. "Think you should try another greeting in case it's someone important calling? Anyway, my name's Sora, and I have something that I want to talk to you about."

"_You complain about my greeting, and I'll complain about your bluntness,_" the other person called Axel countered in an equally playful huff of his breath. "_People don't usually cut to the chase that quickly unless it's deathly important. I can't say I know who you are though, so why would I be obligated to listen to what you have to say?_"

"You really ought to learn a bit more tact when talking to strangers, you know?" the teen countered back before rolling his eyes at their pointless game of trying to one- up each other. "Anyway, I was just calling you to see if you know of a person called Ansem. I want to talk to him about something important."

"_And why would you think that I would know somebody by that name?_" the other asked with suspicion laced in his words. "_Do you even know if the guy you're looking for exists?_"

"I wouldn't be calling if I thought he was a fake."

"_Then in the name of the flame of disaster, tell me just exactly who this Ansem guy is. If this ends up only being a monumental waste of my time, then I'll just hang up and treat you like a crank caller if you call again._"

"Well, from what I learned last night, the guy once used to be a great spy until he retired and started living a regular life here on Destiny Island. I also learned that you're one of the few people who happen to have his phone number."

"_Humph, that sounds like a pretty good story you came up with. How long did it take you to rehearse that so you don't stutter from making a mistake? Do you honestly think I'd believe something as farfetched as that?_"

"So you're saying that you don't believe me?" Sora asked, clearly not surprised that he was receiving this type of treatment from a spy. He was probably just protecting the other guy he was trying to talk to from nosey people or others who wanted to kill him. He was, however, curious as to why the other seemed to sound playful.

"_I'm saying that you came up with an amazing story that couldn't possibly be true,_" Axel clarified with a chuckle of amusement that seemed to magnify his seemingly playful attitude. "_I don't know anybody by the name of Ansem. And I'm as sure as the flames of hell don't know anybody who's a spy._"

"If you're trying to get me to hang up and just give up, then you're not doing a very good job at it," the spiky haired teen responded as he countered back in a teasing tone. "I've heard from a reliable source that you know about Ansem being a spy and that you also have his phone number on hand."

"_Sounds like you're pretty persistent in claiming this as the truth,_" the other on the line said with a sigh that the teen could imagine being accompanied with a shrug of his shoulders. "_Then let's just say for the sake of argument that you're telling the truth. I would suppose that you can tell me just who was the person that told you I know this person you're looking for? Either that, or you're just beating around the blazing bush with me._"

_What is it with this guy and words that have to deal with fire?_ Sora thought with raised eyebrows before giving his vocal answer. "Do you know somebody by the name of Hayner Ryoshou? He's the one who told me about you."

"_Hmm, the name does kind of set off some distant sparks. Do you mind telling me who he's friends with?_"

"He's friends with somebody that I've heard you're good friends with. His name's Roxas Tasogare; and he's a spy just like you and Hayner."

Instead of immediately answering with another word revolving around fire, Axel was simply quiet without any signs that he was still there except for light breathing heard on the other end. It seemed like he was contemplating something.

"_…And how is it that you know Roxas?_" the other finally asked after a few seconds with strong venom in his words. "_Are you one of the guys who killed him and are now trying to get everybody else involved with him dead?_"

"Even if I were an enemy of his, I don't think that there would be any reason to kill off everybody who worked with Roxas," the teen responded with a roll of his eyes at how fast the other person jumped to irrational conclusions. "That just doesn't make any sense no matter how you look at it. Anyway, I know him because he made contact with me while I was working at the Destiny Island International Bank. He told me to get a frying pan from his home that has names of his contacts that could possibly help him get back here. I called Hayner who then led me to you saying that you knew Ansem's phone number."

"_If you did talk to Hayner, then why don't you tell me where he is now and what he's doing? I'll then hang up and call him on his cell to see if you're telling the truth in where he is and that you talked to him. If it is, then I'll call you back. Otherwise, don't think about bugging me about this again, and expect to have a bunch of spies knocking at your door and taking you away for interrogation._"

"Thanks for the threatening warning, Axel. He's most likely at the hospital right now unless he's already left after being patched up. He was shot in the shoulder while meeting me down at the harbor in order to discuss about Roxas. Just ask him about it. He'll probably say the same thing I just did."

And without saying another word, Sora heard the sound of the other end of the line being cut off. With a sigh, he also turned off his end of the now dead connection and sat back in his sofa while waiting to be called back.

_I just hope Hayner's well enough to be talking to anybody right now,_ he thought as he remembered the spy nearly getting shot to death last night and escaping with only a shoulder wound. _I really don't want to face the wrath of interrogators if that Axel guy was being serious. He sounded serious enough after I first mentioned Roxas' name._

Feeling that it might take a while for Hayner to explain things to Axel, Sora decided to abandon his seat and get something to eat from the kitchen. It was already lunchtime, and he did not have anything to eat since he woke up almost an hour ago. He opened the fridge and saw a box of plain white rice along with some simply steamed vegetables in another right beside it. Being that those were kind of the only two things that were in the somewhat bare fridge that could be ready in a matter of minutes, he took them out and popped them into the microwave just a couple of feet away.

_Honestly, I wish I had more money for food after taking care of the rent, paying Riku back for helping me pay for the first month, and shopping for personal hygiene stuff,_ he thought with a dejected sigh as his mind wandered to how he was barely managing to survive with what little money he had left after all the necessary expenses for the month were taken care of. _I took cooking classes in high school, but how am I supposed to make stuff to eat when all I can afford are some cheap vegetables and rice or noodles? Put that on top of the other stuff I need to buy like bars of soap, and food is almost out of the question. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to think that I was better off still at the orphanage. At least everything there was free. They really need to try harder so that people like me don't end up in bad situations like this. Then again, I guess it could've been worse if Riku weren't there to help me out._

After a couple of minutes more of inner dialogue, he heard the microwave go off, signifying that it was done heating up the rice and the veggies. He took out a bowl from a nearby drawer before opening the microwave and dumping the contents of both containers into the bowl before throwing them into a nearby sink.

_At least I have the Christmas bonus to look forward for,_ he continued on with his train of thought with a small smile before going back to the living room with his lunch in tow. _That in combination with what's going to be left of this month's check should help me get some more food than just this for a little while._

After taking a seat back on the sofa, he began mixing the stuff together before taking a bite out of it. And after a couple more minutes of enjoying his lunch in relative quiet, he heard his phone starting to ring. Figuring that it was Axel calling him back, he answered it and put the phone to his ear and swallowed the food that was still in his mouth before saying, "So what did he say? Now do you believe me in that I'm not a threat to you?"

"_Sounds like it's time that I start taking you more seriously than I have been,_" the other simply responded without so much as a sorry for his previously borderline rude and suspicious behavior towards him. "_And don't go thinking that I'll be apologizing to you anytime soon. I'm a spy, so I'm entitled to have my suspicions against people who theoretically shouldn't know anything about us._"

"You didn't really strike me as the type of guy who would go apologizing for something wrong you did when we first started talking," Sora countered back in a playful tone that he emphasized with a teasing chuckle so that the other would know before stuffing his face with his lunch. He then continued on in a slightly muffled voice, "And I was kind of expecting that kind of treatment when I first called you. But yeah, now you know why I'm calling you and that you can trust me as much as Hayner does."

"_Just tell me this much before we start getting into whatever it is you called me about,_" Axel responded as his voice seemed to be laced with concern. "_Is Roxas really still alive and kicking? The last I heard, he was pronounced KIA a couple of weeks ago when all contact with him was lost in Twilight Town. And please don't talk with your mouth full. It kind of makes it hard to hear what you're saying._"

"Trust me; I wouldn't be in this situation right now running around and risking my life if he didn't go and call me for help to get back here," the teen responded while ignoring the other's request and shoving more food into his mouth. "As I said earlier, he told me to get a list of contacts from somewhere inside his house. That's how I got in contact with Hayner who then directed me to you saying that you had the number for the person who would most likely be able to help Roxas get out of there."

"_Yeah, you said something about wanting to know Ansem's phone number so you could talk to him about helping my buddy out,_" the other recalled, his voice clearly reflecting the annoyance at his request being completely ignored. "_I'm sorry to tell you this, but you're a couple of weeks too late to be asking._"

"Wh-what are you talking about, Axel? Don't tell me that you managed to lose his number two weeks ago and can't find it now. I need that if I'm ever going to have a chance at rescuing Roxas." He was surprised at how he seemed to be making this sound like a personal mission rather than just a request, but his mind was too busy wrapping around the thought on why he could not get the phone number he was seeking.

"_If I were that scatterbrained, then I don't think that the agency would allow me to use pyrotechnic fighting techniques if I somehow got myself into deep trouble. No, what I meant was that me giving you Ansem's phone number is going to be as much help to you as trying to ask a wall for directions. The old man died of a heart attack just over two weeks ago before Roxas was reported to be dead._"

"You-you got to be kidding me!" Sora exclaimed in surprise before putting his lunch down on the table, not wanting to admit what he just heard was Roxas' best escape route flying out the window.

"_You'll have to catch me setting myself on fire before I start kidding with anybody about something important as this,_" Axel responded in a good-hearted fashion before changing his tone back to being somewhat serious. "_I really don't like saying it, but the only person who might be willing to help Roxas get out of there after being first convinced he's still alive without first going through with the agency is way past dead. Like me, everybody would probably not believe you or choose to go through the books first. And I heard from Hayner that he told you how long that process can take._"

"Well, I still have one more person I haven't had a chance to try asking for help yet," the spiky haired teen stated with a sigh as he was now down to the last resource available to him. "Maybe they'll be willing to not just believe me after a bit of convincing but also bend the rules and just get him out of there before he's found out and killed."

"_You think you can tell me who the last person on his list of contacts is?_" the other person asked with a curious edge to his words. "_I know a few of the people Roxas worked with since he first started a few months ago, so I might be able to tell you whether or not you're just going to be wasting your time._"

"He's only been a spy for a few months? Wow, he must've done a real good job on his initiation exam or something like that."

"_Actually, he actually got caught up in one of my missions when he was still just a regular guy. He got caught up in the middle of a shootout between me and a couple of people I was tailing who somehow managed to figure out I was following him. Needless to say, he got caught as a hostage by one of them, but he still managed to fight his way free with techniques that I was taught in the spy training regimen. He then took the guy's gun after subduing him and ran for cover in that expert spy fashion and decided to help me out._"

"Wow, that sounded pretty intense for just a then normal guy. Did his parents used to be spies themselves and taught him everything he knows?"

"_That's what I thought at first. When I asked him after it was all over, though, he said that he was a video game junkie and just mimicked what he learned from all those games that had to deal with guns and espionage stuff. I thought he was kidding at first, but he invited me to his place once things cooled down, and I saw that he was more than serious._

"_Anyway, we're getting way off topic here,_" Axel quickly changed topics with a clear of his throat. "_You can ask him more about how he became a spy when you talk to him. Just tell me who's the last contact on the list he gave you._"

"I wouldn't call it a list per se," Sora responded in a correcting tone before quickly adding, "but the last person on here is called Xion Mecha. According to the frying pan, you're right now living with him."

"_Nice to know his list is on the back of a frying pan,_" the other responded with a chuckle. "_And yes, I'm right now living with _her_ as roommates. But she isn't here right now. She went with Roxas on his mission to Twilight Town and was listed as Missing In Action at the same time he was listed Killed In Action. She hasn't been heard from since then._"

"Ugh, there goes his last chance at getting out of there alive," the teen said with a dejected sigh as he did a facepalm. He then stated, "But if Xion was with Roxas, then isn't it possible that she's still alive and trying to contact somebody in the same way I was? I don't think she's with him, because he never said anything about another person."

"_If that's true, then the person she's talking to must've not figured out her password yet. She has me as a contact for situations like this, so I might be hearing from her if you're right on that. Still, it's a pretty big longshot._"

"Well, he found a way to get to me so I could talk to you on his behalf, so she should be getting to you anytime soon. But anyway, what the hell am I supposed to do now? Hayner can't do anything both because of his low ranking and his now fresh shoulder injury that almost took his life. You can't do anything for me because the main reason I called you for help died over two weeks ago. And Therxia Nagrobshigou hasn't called me back when I left a message with her butler guy last night. I've used up all the things Roxas gave me to work with and still didn't get any closer to getting him help."

"_If it makes you feel better, Therxia's usually a pretty busy person for even us spies to get into contact with. She's pretty high in the chain of command, so it's natural that she hasn't gotten back in touch with you. All I can suggest for you is that you should talk to Roxas again tonight and see if he has any other plans. And if it does come to a point where you need some help on this end, just call me up,_" Axel added in a confident tone. "_Now you can't say that calling everybody in his list of contacts was a total waste of time._"

"I guess that's the only thing I can do now," Sora responded with a sigh just before he heard a knock coming from his apartment door. "Sorry, but I have to go now. Somebody's at my door now. Talk to you if I need any help."

"_Yeah, you just make sure that Roxas makes it back home alive and relatively unscathed, or I'll figure out where you live and make you pay for his death,_" the other threatened in a tone that sounded playful to an untrained ear but was really full of seriousness before he disconnected his end of the line.

_Sounds like they're pretty good friends if he's that concerned about him,_" the teen thought as he took the threat seriously despite the slight humorous edge he caught before being rudely interrupted by the knocking again. "Alright, I'm coming! No need to break the door down or anything like that."

Within a couple of seconds and a few big steps, he made it to his door and took a deep breath to relax himself from his previous conversation before opening it to see what was gracing him with their visit.

"Hello Sora; how are you feeling today?" he heard a woman's familiarly motherly and soothing voice greeting him the moment the door was open. His eyes were also greeted with the sight of a red winter jacket keeping the smiling woman with long brown hair in it warm from the cool winter air. "I caught wind that you didn't go to the bank today and came by to see if everything was alright."

"A-Aerith!" Sora exclaimed before moving out of the doorway, clearly not expecting the now retired banker to have been paying him a visit anytime soon. He then asked with a smile of his own, "H-How did you figure out that I lived here? I don't think I ever told you about me living in this apartment."

"Well, I decided to go and pay everybody at the bank a visit today during the lunch break," the woman explained with a smile as she took the movement as an invite to enter. "I was surprised when I didn't see you there. That was when Riku asked for me to check up on you when I was done. He just wanted to make sure that nothing happened to you. He thinks of you as a brother, you know? I must admit, though, that you not going to work is kind of an unusual thing for you to do."

"Well, my throat was feeling kind of funny when I woke up this morning," the teen explained with a shrug of his shoulders before moving to the living room and relocating his lunch to the kitchen counter. "That and I kind of felt a bit strange, so I thought I might have caught a cold. I'm feeling a bit better now, but I didn't think I wanted to chance it in case I really had something."

"That does sound like a good reason, especially since everybody's working in that one big room for seven hours a day," she reasoned out with a nod of her head while subconsciously surveying the apartment. "That and this winter air doesn't help to make a cold get any better. So this is where you've been living ever since you told me you left the orphanage," she continued on as she allowed her eyes to look around the small yet humble apartment. "It's a very nice place you have here."

"Speaking of which, just how did you manage to get in here without first calling me from the outer gate? That thing doesn't open for anybody unless the visitor calls who they're planning to visit to open it up for them."

"I think your landlord is planning to replace the security system on the gate with a newer model. I saw some workers working on disconnecting the wires and all that. That's how I got in without having to go through the security."

"Oh, so Cid's decided to work on that today. It's probably going to be a chore to get out of here with all those workers. Thanks for telling me that, Aerith."

"Hmm, you're quite welcome," Aerith simply answered with a friendly smile before moving into the kitchen where Sora was still at. "Anyway, I'm afraid I can't stay here for long. I just wanted to appease Riku's worries about how you were doing and see how you were faring without me watching over you."

"Well, I've been doing the best I could without you around," Sora answered as he took a clean cup from a cupboard above the sink and filled it with tap water. He then offered it to the woman before saying. "And I've been keeping out of trouble in the office ever since you left. In fact, I haven't gotten talked to by Xemnas yet."

"That's good to hear," she answered with a light-hearted chuckle while accepting the cup of water and lightly sipped from it. "If you don't mind me saying, you seem to be doing pretty well on your own despite the position the orphan system put you in. Not many eighteen-year-olds could ever hope to get an apartment right off the bat."

"Thanks for the compliment, Aerith," the spiky haired teen thanked her. "I just happen to be lucky to have such a good friend like Riku go out of his way and help me land a job at the bank. He even went so far as to help me find this place that I could call my own by paying the first month's rent for me. He really is a one-in-a-million friend."

"You know, he's been working at that bank for almost a good two years. Every time he talked about his time at the orphanage, he always started talking about you with this happy gleam in his eyes. He always worried about how you were doing on your own just as he worried about how you were feeling."

"Yeah, he's the kind of guy who would save his friends before himself in a heartbeat if it ever came to something deathly dangerous."

"I'm sure he is. Well, I think I better get going now," she quickly said as she finished the water and put the cup on the sink before moving towards the door. "I need to make sure that Zack isn't trying to drag himself into more trouble down at the flower shop. I know he means well, but I don't want to return to flowers that drowned."

"Zack's your best friend since middle school, isn't he?" Sora asked as the name rang a very distant bell in his head. "Didn't you tell me once that he was thinking about becoming a traveling journalist because he wanted to see the world? How did you manage to get him to stay home and take care of flowers?"

"Actually, he decided to stay behind when he heard that I was planning on retiring from the bank and start devoting more of my time on the flower shop my mom left for me," Aerith explained as a reminiscent smile made its way onto her face. "He was worried that I might not be able to make a good living for myself after suddenly changing careers and wanted to make sure that I was okay before leaving. And being the ever caring person he is, he decided to help me take care of the shop while putting his dream as a traveling journalist on hold. I told him it was okay, but I might as well try to ask a rock to change its mind. Once he gets something in his head, you can't stop him from doing it."

"But it sounds like he's doing it because he really cares about you," the brown spiky haired teen responded with a nod of his head, happy that the woman he looked up to as a mother had someone who loved her so much. "He sounds like a one-in-a-million prince charming. Do you ever consider him to be your boyfriend sometimes?"

"No, I'm content with just being best friends with the sometimes klutzy guy," the woman said with a loving chuckle to show that she was just teasing. "And besides, there are two reasons why he can't be my boyfriend. The first is that he doesn't aim for me or any other girls even if they were the prettiest in the world. Secondly, he already has a boyfriend. I have a strange feeling that you might know him."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because his name's Cloud Strife and he also lived in the same orphanage you were in until he was adopted seven years ago. He told me he remembered being friends with Riku. He also remembered him hanging around with you as a new friend and wanted to get to know you, but he got adopted before he had the chance and lost contact with him."

"Is he a guy with blond hair that's probably as spiky as mines who also has the kind of face that makes him look like he's serious about everything?"

"The very same one. Maybe you two can meet up sometime at my flower shop. He said he felt bad about you being alone all the time, but he had some kind of silly reputation of being a sort of anti-social guy who only accepted Riku as a friend."

"Yeah, I remember hearing of somebody like that back in the orphanage. He always did strike me as an interesting guy underneath that title. Maybe it would be nice to get to know him. That and Zack sounds like a pretty friendly guy."

"Well, you can always come to my flower shop whenever you want to meet them. They both help me around the shop to keep things in order, but I think Cloud prefers to be there when I have to go out just to keep an eye on Zack and make sure he doesn't try anything crazy with the flowers like overwatering them."

"Anyway, I really need to get back before some customers come by asking for a flower arrangement that neither of them know how to create yet," Aerith responded from her position by the doorway where she had been standing ever since they got sidetracked from her earlier attempt at leaving. "It was nice seeing you again, Sora. I hope you get better soon, and make sure you behave at work."

"I will; and thanks for visiting me today, Aerith," Sora answered before waving her goodbye as she exited out to the hallway and to the flower shop that she now owned and was taking care of with the help of her best friend Zack and his boyfriend Cloud.

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><p>Well, I hope that you all liked that chapter. I wanted to find a way to separate the serious atmosphere of suddenly using everything Roxas gave Sora to work with and yielding nothing with a nice surprise visit by Aerith. I always pictured her to be the kind of woman who could easily be a mother figure to anybody because of how sweet she is. And I just couldn't help but put a small tidbit about Zack and Cloud. They're just a couple of my most favorite Final Fantasy characters of all time! And yes, I like yaoi for those of you wondering about all of these boy couples I'm putting in here and there. So sue me!<p>

But seriously, now what are Sora and Roxas supposed to do with nobody able to help them and figuring out whatever help they can score has already died off? Things are never easy, especially escaping from enemy territory with your life. At least Axel said that he would lend Sora help if he eve needed it. But then what's going on with Xion? Why ask to call her if she's your partner for the mission gone bad in terms of escape route?

I hope you also liked a bit more of the back story on how Roxas ended up landing a job as a spy. I've noticed when I was writing this that I haven't given a lot of back story to his character, so I figured that this would be a good place to add some more since he and Axel were quick friends. It is kind of hard, though, to create a character without really showing them off to the reader because all I have to go on is literally words and descriptions from others to have you all see how Roxas is in real life. Oh well, that's just a challenge that I really like, so I'll keep doing it as much as I can. Now here's a character bio for some of the new characters.

Roxas Tasogare: 18 (A young spy who only received the job over half a year ago after getting caught in a shootout and aiding Axel with the criminal apprehension)

Axel Karyuu: ? (A spy who became friends with Roxas after a mission gone bad and promised to help Sora bring the trapped spy back home in any way he can)

Xion Mecha: ? (A woman who is a spy and is roommates with Axel, but she is reportedly supposed to be with Roxas on his current mission)

Ansem: ? (An old retired spy who taught Roxas how to be a be one and apparently passed away a couple of weeks ago)

Aerith Gainsborough: 25 (A young woman who has retired from bank life in order to care for a flower shop she now has ownership over)

Cloud Strife: 22 (An old friend of Riku's who was adopted out of the orphanage Sora and Riku were in over seven years ago)

Zack Fair: ? (A very good friend of Aerith since middle school who is helping out at her shop and, according to her, is Cloud's boyfriend)

Well, that's the end of the long character bio. I decided to put a repeat of some of the other characters because there were updates to their story that I thought you all might like to know so as to not get too badly confused in future chapters about what they're really doing. And I didn't bother giving a last name for Ansem because I already knew he was going to be dead. And besides, even if he weren't dead, what business does Axel have to give both his phone number and last name at the same time? And all those question marks on the ages means that in Sora's point of view, he has no idea how old they could be.

Anyway, here's the definitions of the new last names on here. Karyuu is Japanese for Fire Dragon. I figured that would fit for Axel since he loved to fight with fire, and I made it that he proclaimed that he liked to fight with pyrotechnic skills. And I just happen to love dragons, so I decided to put it in his name and it ended up making it sound better. And Mecha is also Japanese for, you guessed it, machine. For those of you who played KH:365/2 Days, then you'll know what I mean. She was a creation of Vexen, so Mecha sounded like a perfect last name for her.

That's all for this long after-story note. I hope that you all liked this new chapter and will continue to read on when I post new ones. And please don't forget to leave a review telling me how you think of this new chapter and if there's anything that you think I could improve or clarify on. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!


	10. The Need to Create Another Plan

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. To tell you all the truth, I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish this story before or at the time Christmas comes around. For those of you who don't remember, I've already based this story in the middle of winter in respect to the upcoming Christmas holidays. As such, I wanted to finish it before on at Christmas. I feel that it would fit with the time placement of the story well.

Anyway, that's enough about trying to tie in the story's time frame with real life. This chapter is mostly just a conversation piece that's really meant to help supplement the relationship between Roxas and Sora. I figured out that they both do not have much of a chance to get to know each other well even through the conversation they have mainly revolving on business. As such, I decided to go ahead and dedicate an entire chapter for them. Sorry to those who do not like chapters that are just mainly talking, but that's what I'm going to do here.

Well, that's enough with the author's notes. I'll let you all go ahead and start reading this new chapter. Just don't forget to leave a review before you leave telling me what you think of this new chapter. They are always helpful unless they're just flames. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybpdy!

And as a little side note, sorry if the format of the dialogue is hard to read. As a reminder, **bold stands for computer talk,** "this stands for regular person-to-person talk," _and Italicized stands for the inner thoughts of Sora._ That's the end of the short dialogue description to help lessen whatever confusion that might arise upon you all reading this.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: We Need to Make Another Plan<br>**

**Wow, I can't believe that it's only been a couple of days since I first got caught up in this self-rescue mission of yours,** Sora told Roxas in amazement from his work computer back at the bank. **To be perfectly honest with you, it feels like I've been helping you out for a lot longer than that. I guess having so many crazy things happening to you in such a short amount of time can do that to you.**

It was the beginning of the evening hours on the same day that he had tried to contact Axel for help. He had been debating in his mind whether or not to skip today's meeting and continue on the next day, but he figured that it might worry Roxas a bit in that there was no timely response back. It would not be good to worry him, but it would also not be the greatest of situations to be caught at work when he is theoretically supposed to be home sick. So it was either face the wrath of his boss and best friend or have the spy worry about him for not contacting him tonight.

In the end, he decided to sneak back into his office just five minutes before seven when the office was theoretically supposed to have been cleared out with only the security guard situated outside knowing of him entering. He was supposed to have been sick that day after all, and coming this late at night would not only peg him as a liar but would also cast him under a suspicious shadow with his boss Xemnas and his best friend Riku. That was one position he did not want to be in on top of everything else that was happening around him. It just would not be the greatest of combinations.

**Well, I was starting to think that something might have happened to you when you didn't sign on at seven,** Roxas responded back with relief clear in his words. Sora could just imagine the teen's barely mid-tone voice he first heard on the answering machine last night replacing the soundless words on the screen along with the emotion being put behind each word. **You were always so prompt the last few times we communicated, so I wasn't sure if you were just held up or something else happened.**

** Oh, don't tell me a tough spy like yourself was worried about a poor simple civilian like me?** the brown spiky haired teen teased with a chuckle that only he could obviously hear. **A lot of things could happen on my end of communications, especially when my only source of communication with you happens to be my work computer. A small bit of delay should be expected every now and then.**

** …Yeah, I guess you're right,** the light brown spiky haired spy admitted after a couple seconds of hesitation that was most likely him contemplating the last statement. **I should be expecting slight delays in a situation such as this. Nevertheless, you are my only hope at coming home alive, so I can't afford to lose you as an ally right now.**

** Yeah, and I intend on doing my best to make sure you get back home. After all, you're a teenager just like me, and it just wouldn't feel right if I let a fellow teen out in the dust to fend for himself just like that.**

** I'm guessing that you already figured out a few things about me from that trip to my apartment. No surprise there, I suppose. I was kind of expecting for that to happen since I had quite a few hints just lying around. And I'm guessing that you know my name because my phone decided to ring while you were in there.**

** Yeah, a girl named Ollete made it sound like she's been trying to call you for a while now,** Sora responded, making sure not to say anything about him listening in on the unanswered messages in the machine.** I didn't answer her phone since she would probably think that you moved or something like that, but she did sound pretty worried about you. If anything, you should come back safe so you don't worry them anymore.**

**By the way, do you mind if we go on a little side trip away from all these requests for a bit?** he continued on as he tried to change the subject away from the rescue mission.** I want to get to know you a little bit better, especially since I've went to your house and saw photos of you and your friends hanging out together.**

For a couple of seconds, Roxas did not bother to type in anything as a response to that. Apparently, he was thinking whether or not to delve into his private life with a complete stranger whom he only contacted at first with the thoughts of being able to try and get home safely. The answer soon popped onto the screen.

**I guess that's fair,** he responded while Sora could just imagine him giving off a shrug of his shoulders as an added response. **You figured out a little bit of my life, and I'm sure that you're curious about a couple of other things because of it.**

**Actually, I got a lot of my questions answered about you from your two friends and spy allies, Hayner and Axel,** the brown spiky haired teen explained with a small smile creeping onto his face. **Hayner said that you've been his best friend for a while, and Axel said that you've only been working as a spy for a few months. He also told me the story on how you helped him out during one of his missions gone wrong. Interesting way to start out the beginning of your career.**

** Well, I wasn't going to be taken as a hostage without a fight,** the light brown spiky haired spy responded. **I didn't care if the guy had a gun to my head or not. That and it was a good way for me to practice those self-defense moves that I managed to teach myself over the past few years.**

** Yeah, moves that you taught yourself after playing a lot of spy video games. Axel also told me that you told him that you learned those high level spy moves through being a video game junkie. You know, a lot of things about you are pretty unbelievable even when your friends say it to be the truth. I'm not saying that I don't believe either you or them, but it's just pretty interesting at how you're able to willingly risk your life as a spy while only being the same age as me.**

** And I still can't believe that you're actually working at the bank in the international transactions department at the age of eighteen,** Roxas quickly responded in a countering attitude. **Last I checked, us teens don't usually land a job at the bank until sometime after we've finished college.**

** I guess like you, I just managed to catch a lucky break by having a good friend that was willing to help me out when I really needed it,** Sora simply responded back with a shrug of his shoulders. **I guess you can consider the both of us to be the luckiest teens in the world in that we got rather successful jobs.**

** I guess you could say that,** the other stated. **Having Axel as a friend surely has its perks in that I landed a job and being given a bunch of craziness in my life being that he likes to practically play with fire.**

** Anyway, why don't we just get back to the topic at hand here?** the other quickly typed in an attempt to change the subject. Either he was getting embarrassed revealing to someone he did not know the private parts of his life, or he did not feel comfortable talking about sensitive stuff on a proxy server regardless whether or not it was secure. Sora was willing to bet his money on the latter of the two. **If you still want to know more about me, then I promise we'll meet up one of these days once I'm back at home. It seems better than talking on here where someone could break into the proxy server at any moment. Until then, do you think we could just concentrate on helping me get back home?**

** Fine you big party pooper; we'll just stick with trying to get you home and forget about getting to know each other better,** the spiky haired teen typed in with a pout. He then blew a raspberry before continuing to talk to the other.** You sure know how to rain down on a guy's attempt at some fun, you know?**

** Why can I just imagine you with a pout on your face right now when you say that?** Roxas rhetorically asked in a humorous fashion while most likely lightly chuckling to himself. **Anyway, how did things go with the list of contacts I sent you to get? Did you managed to call all of them?**

** I called them all, but they didn't turn out to be as helpful as either you or I thought they would be. The only person who I didn't get to directly talk to was this woman called Therxia Nagrobshigou. She hasn't bothered to call me back all day today after I left a message with her butler guy last night. You don't think she's ignoring me because she doesn't know who I am, do you?**

** No, she's most likely just busy working on other stuff,** the spy explained while most likely shrugging his shoulders with indifference.** She may be a spy, but she tends to be pretty busy with other things in order to keep her cover-up life believable to other regular people, so I suppose getting her help was a long shot.**

** Then how about Hayner?** he asked while suddenly shifting from one person to the other.** He probably was a bit stubborn when you first talked to him, but he had to believe you after you talked to him about me. Please tell me he believed you.**

** I was starting to think that he wasn't going to believe me after spending a few minutes just trying to convince him. Unfortunately, he had to get shot by some mysterious woman before he even chose to start believing me. And before you go all crazy on me, he was only shot once in the shoulder, so he's more than fine. He's not going to be dying on you anytime soon. If you want the details though, then you're just going to have to come back and ask him for it yourself.**

** You two were shot at while meeting each other?** the other quickly typed in, clearly surprised upon hearing that both his best friend and intended savior were nearly killed on his behalf. **Damn; then I guess this means that the enemy's already onto us. I'm glad to hear that Hayner's going to be alright, but what about you, Sora? Has anything happened to you after that incident?**

**Well, I almost ended up getting myself kidnapped when I was leaving your rather nice apartment before that, but the frying pan you had me take was more than helpful in getting me out of that situation,** Sora answered as he thought back to the taxi fiasco he was forced to suffer through last night. He could practically feel the light brown teen spy on the other end gasp in shock upon hearing this. **I just consider myself lucky there that the guy didn't bother to check whether or not I had anything in my jacket that could possibly kill him. Then again, he was already in the driver's seat when I first asked him to take me back home, so he wasn't in the position to go and frisk me. Oh well, nothing a little bang on the side of the guy's head can't fix.**

** Well, I'm just glad that both you and Hayner managed to get out of this alright,** the spiky light brown haired spy responded in what seemed to have been accompanied with a sigh of relief. **I'm really sorry to have put your life in such danger here. I honestly never meant for you to be dragged into the dangerous side of all this spy business. If I had known that things would get this dangerous, then I wouldn't have gone and asked you to help me out in the first place.**

** Hey, none of this was your fault, Roxas,** the spiky brown haired teen responded in an attempt to keep the other from blaming himself.** I had a feeling what I was signing up for when I figured out that you were a spy, and I chose to continue helping you out despite that. And even if they were just trying to scare me off so I would stop helping you, then they did a pretty bad job at it. After all, I'm still talking to you right now and giving you a brief on how things went on my end.**

** And speaking of which, I also talked to Axel this morning,** he continued on as he felt they were starting to move away from the main topic. **Actually, it was Hayner who suggested that I called him just before he drove himself to the hospital to get the bullet out of his shoulder. He said that I should call Axel and ask him about some guy named Ansem. They said that he was your mentor when you first became an official spy.**

** And how did things end up working on that lead?** Roxas asked with his words filled with hope. **I'm pretty sure Hayner wouldn't have suggested that unless he felt that he couldn't help me in any other way.**

** Unfortunately, that ended up being a dead end because he ended up dying of a heart attack over two weeks ago. The only person who was said to be willing to bend spy rules and get you out of Twilight Town himself isn't going to be doing much of anything except look down at us and try to figure out what the heck we're doing.**

** Damn, all of my contacts are giving me nothing but bad news all the way around,** the spiky light brown haired teen typed in an aggravated fashion. **Why is life choosing to be so damn stubborn with me right now? And what about Xion? Did you manage to get in contact with her?**

** Well, I did figure out that she and Axel live in the same place, so I just asked him if she was home,** Sora explained as he remembered what the other spy told him over the phone earlier that day.** Strangely enough, he said that she was already with you when you first started your mission. Shouldn't she be with you then?**

** Believe it or not, we got separated sometime last week. We both agreed to try and find a way for the both of us to get out of here. I just figured that she discovered a way out but could not take the time to tell me about it. I know that she wouldn't just abandon me without a good reason. I figured this whole time she made it back home. Guess that I was wrong the whole time. I suppose that means that there's no way I'm ever going to get out of here alive.**

** So what, you're just going to give up like that because you think that all your friends can't help you out?** the spiky haired teen quickly responded upon seeing the words of helplessness appearing in front of him. **You may give people a bad first impression of you being unsure of yourself and stuff when they hear your answering machine, but I know you better than that. You've always sounded so sure and certain of yourself every time we've talked about trying to get you home. Now you all of a sudden turn into this guy who thinks that everything is hopeless because of the failure of the only plan that you've told me? I've put my neck too far into this to hear you say that you're giving up. Come on; there must be something else that you can think of. Just tell me what it is, and I'll try my best to make it work. There's always more than one way to attack any problem.**

For a few seconds, Roxas was quiet on his end of the computer connection. It felt like he was seriously taking the words just spoken to him to heart and trying to think of another plan. Either that or he was just choosing to ignore him because he already had it in his mind that nothing was going to work beyond his first plan.

**You're right, Sora,** Roxas finally responded with a sort of renewed energy in his words. **I shouldn't be giving up just because the best plan that I can come up with went down the drain. If things can't be done the easy way, then we'll do it the hard way. Thanks for reminding me about that.**

** Don't mention it,** the brown haired teen answered, his blue eyes shining with the signs of triumph at getting the spy's sense of hope back. **I guess it is kind of easy to forget about other possibilities when you're in a position like this. Anyway, do you have any other way that we can get you back here to Destiny Island?**

** Well, I just got another idea from the newspaper here,** the spy quickly responded. **The paper here says that they're planning a celebration for the upcoming Twilight Independence Day. Apparently, it's going to be two centuries from tomorrow since the town officially declared independence from Hollow Bastion. I'm sure that the consulate on Destiny Island will also be holding a celebration of their own. Perhaps we can use that to our advantage.**

** And what exactly is it that you're thinking about?** Sora asked, the fact that he quickly typed in his question showing that he was more than eager to go through with whatever the spy was going to ask him to try out.

**Don't be too eager in case the plan doesn't sound like something you'd want to do. I have to admit, it's pretty dangerous for you to try out, but I guess I'll never know until I actually tell you. What I want you to do is try and get into the Twilight Town Consulate while the party is going on. The event's most likely to take place during the evening hours, so try to get yourself ready before then.**

** Well, I guess that's more than possible since there's going to be a party of sorts,** the teen answered back with a smile before figuring out that it might be harder to get into the consulate this time around.** But don't I need an invitation or something like that to get in? I doubt that they're just going to let me stroll in this time like when you had me deliver that secret message to them a couple of days ago.**

** I think you might be able to make it work with either Axel or Hayner if he's well enough to go. They both work as spies for Twilight Town, so they should be able to get invitations without any problems. All I suggest is that you wear a nice dinner dress so that you can pose as one of their dates.**

_He didn't just tell me to go and wear a dress, did he?_ Sora thought with both of his eyebrows raised in amazement at what he was being told to do. Another thought then struck him at that moment. _He probably figured that I'm a girl or something like that. Then again, Sora is an androgynous name, so he probably figured me to be a girl since it's more popular with them. Sounds like I got a bit of explaining to do._

**Actually, I prefer to wear a nice tuxedo over a dress any day,** he responded quickly in an attempt to confuse the other before explaining himself. **You see, the Sora you're speaking to right now happens to be a guy. I know the name's more common with girls than it is with guys, but I just happen to be one of those few guys.**

** …I'm sorry; I didn't know that,** Roxas apologized after pausing for a few moments that was most likely a result of him being shocked that he was talking to a guy this entire time. And to be perfectly honest, Sora swore he felt a bit of a flustered attitude behind the words. Why he felt it there, he was not sure. **This whole time, I thought I was talking to a woman because of the name you gave me. That and I can picture a woman working as a transaction clerk more than a guy.**

** Well, except for that stereotype about mainly women working in the transaction department of a bank, I can see why you thought I was a girl. There's no harm done, though. After all, I don't think it'll really make much of a difference in the plan that you have created for me to try.**

** I'm sorry, but I beg to differ on that. You see, I was thinking that with you as a woman, you might be able to charm your way up into the restricted areas of the consulate. However, I don't think that you'd be able to do that being you're a guy and all that. After all, security guards tend to be men, and having other men striking conversations with them doesn't usually yield the intended results. I'm sorry, but I can't ask you to try this out. I'll think up of another plan and contact you tomorrow.**

_Oh, don't tell me he just said that to me!_ Sora thought as his eyes shown with the shock he was no doubt feeling at being told he could not do the job Roxas had planned simply because he was a guy. He then angrily typed into the computer, **Hey, don't you dare pull that on me just because you had a case of mistaken identity! Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean that I can't just find some other way to venture deeper into the Twilight Town Consulate. And for your information, I happen to be a gay guy, so I think I could charm men just as well if not better than any of your average girls. You better reconsider and think about giving me a chance here, or I'm not going to help you again no matter how many times you bug me after I sign out tonight. And I mean it!**

For some time that felt like minutes but was actually half a minute in reality, neither of the teen's typed anything into their computer. Sora was obviously still fuming at being told he could not perform whatever was on Roxas' mind simply because he was a guy. Roxas, however, was either shocked at being talked to like that or trying to consider whether or not his original plan might have some chance at working.

**…I'm sorry for saying you couldn't do the job because you're not a girl, Sora,** Roxas finally apologized with strong sincerity behind his words. There also seemed to be some regret tied in with it that felt like something you would hear in a conversation between you and the one you really loved or cared about. But the brown spiky haired teen was still fuming to have caught that. **Regardless whether you're a guy, a girl, gay, or straight, I shouldn't have said anything stupid like that. I'm just not used to having things not go my way when I'm in a desperate situation like this. So I'm sorry about that.**

**…Don't sweat it, Roxas,** the teen responded after calming down a bit and spending a couple of seconds reading the short but sincere apology. **I just get a bit peeved off when people tell me to do something and then suddenly say I can't do it. It feels like I was being picked on and bullied back in the orphanage all over again. I know it sounds silly, but things like that just make me remember the childhood I never got to really have when I was little. Sorry for just snapping at you like that.**

** Heh, looks like we're both at fault here,** the spy answered back, most likely giving off a small apologetic smile in the process. **I guess we can call it even then. But yeah, I think you still might be able to get my plan off the ground. It'll probably be a little bit difficult since you most likely have to sneak your way around now.**

** Just give me the instructions, and I'll do whatever it is that I can on my end of things,** Sora responded with a cocky smile, seemingly already putting their rather short and minor argument into the forgotten past. **And besides, Axel promised me that he'd help me in any way he can when it comes to helping you get back home. So even if I can't do it myself, I have him to fall back on.**

** Wow, you're pretty easy to ask for forgiveness, you know that? Then again, you can tell whether or not I'm being sincere just by talking to me through computer typing, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised about it.**

** Anyway, let me go ahead and explain to you the plan I have in mind,** the spy continued on before he heard another response about what he had just said.** Hope you have a pen and paper at hand, because this is going to be a lot of instructions that you're going to have to memorize.**

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><p>Well, that's it for this new chapter. I hope that you all ended up enjoying it as much as I had creating it. I really wanted to create more closeness with Sora and Roxas, but it did prove to be a bit challenging because of the fact that the two are simply talking through the computer. Still, I hope that you like the attempt I put in it with this new chapter.<p>

Just to say, there isn't going to be a character bio for this chapter. That's basically because there's nothing new to really say about the characters. So with that, don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story telling me how you think the new chapter is. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!


	11. Operation Infiltrate TT Consulate

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter of this great story for you all to read. Just let me say one thing before I say anything else. When I said that I was going to try and get this story out before Chirstmas, I admit that I was being a bit overzealous with that declaration. As a result, I'm afraid that I can't follow up on that. There's just too much to be written down for it to be done by then in such a short amount of time. Oh well, at least the chapters will be written at certain time intervals so as to not leave you all on a loop as to what's going to happen next.

Anyway, this chapter is going to start introducing to you all the plan that I purposefully did not put as a discussion at the end of the last chapter. It's also going to show how everybody that knows Roxas is going to band together in order to try and get him back home safe and sound before its too late.

And just one more note before I leave you all to read this new chapter. I'm currently working on a new story that also revolves around the Kingdom Hearts characters. I've named it, "The Curse of Destati Communion Elementary". It's my first attempt at trying to write a horror and tragedy genre, but it was inspired by another horror game that I recently played and finished. It was called, "Corpse Party: Blood Covered", and it was real creepy in how the dialogue was read by the actors. That then inspired me to try making it out with the Kingdom Hearts series.

However, the only way I could make a horror story truly horrific is by implementing certain details that aren't meant for the standard T rating I've been writing in. As such, that will be my very first M rated story I'll be writing that fits it's genre. Because of that, I might need your help to spread word about the story since most are probably used to me only writing T rated stories.

Then again, whether you read that new story of mine or not is up to you. I'm just trying to spread the word on to you all about the new story I'm working on being that it might not be easy to find because of its rating. Either way, I hope that you enjoyed this new chapter for this story as much as I had writing it. And if you do go and read my new story, I hope that you all end up enjoying that as well.

On that note, I'll let you all go and start reading it. Don't forget to leave me a review before you leave telling me how you liked this chapter. Until the next update on this or any of my stories, particularly my new one, everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: Operation Infiltrate Twilight Town Consulate<strong>

"This is why I hate having to wear formal clothes like tuxedos," Sora grumbled as he was riding in the passenger seat of a fancy red Ferrari that was smoothly cruising through the evening streets. He was busy fiddling around with the clothed stiffness of his shoulders and the tightness of his fancy black bowtie. "It's just too damn stuffy and uncomfortable all the way around. Why the heck did this independence party have to be a black tie event?"

"Because Twilight Town takes occasions such as this with great pride because of the history behind it," a flaming red haired man simply stated as he was behind the wheel of the Ferrari and dodging in-between cars that he deemed to have been too slow for his liking. Apparently, this person driving was most likely the person named Axel the teenager had talked to yesterday morning. "I'm sure you learned about the space war against Hollow Bastion who was occupying Twilight Town at the time."

Earlier that evening, Sora had spent only a couple of minutes telling Roxas that he was going to go through with the plan on infiltrating the Twilight Town Consulate tonight. He then gave Axel a quick call seeing if he was still at home. To his luck, the man had not left yet and had given him instructions to a secondary apartment he owned for rendezvous that held the risk of either party being followed. It was a bit out of the way, but it was more than necessary if they wanted to ensure that the trapped spy made it back home safely.

Once they had both arrived at their rendezvous destination, the spiky haired teen began to explain what he and the trapped spy had planned on doing. After hearing the severely condensed version of the plan, Axel promised to do whatever it is he could do in order to help. This also included driving the teen down to the nearest tuxedo rental store in near law-breaking speeds and finding one that would fit the teen so he would easily blend in with the crowd in the consulate. After spending less than ten minutes trying on just two rentals, they quickly paid and were now on their way to the Twilight Independence Day party.

"But why do they have to dress this formal for an Independence Day anniversary party?" Sora continued to whine as he gave up trying to make his shoulders feel more comfortable and concentrated his time on messing with his black bowtie. "How can people stand wearing these things for long periods of time?"

"You learn to get used to it," Axel explained with a chuckle of amusement as they turned a corner that allowed them to see the consulate just a couple of blocks in front of them. "And besides, us spies have to sometimes wear these when we go to certain high profile events where our marks sometimes attend. You can't show discomfort unless you want to be figured out the moment you reach their sights."

"Whatever; I just keep telling myself that I'm doing all this for Roxas in order to get through this," the teen said with a pout as they entered the front gates of the consulate where other cars were currently in a short line leading to the front doors. "I sure hope he appreciates everything that I'm doing for him."

"You better stop complaining and start looking like someone who isn't griping about what he's wearing," the red haired man quickly said as some people passed by the open roofed car. "The fact that you keep messing with your bowtie is a dead giveaway to everybody you're probably not supposed to be here. That would definitely defeat the purpose of why I'm even helping you to sneak into the building in the first place. Just follow my lead and everything should go smoothly."

And before they could say anything else, their car reached the front doors where a valet dressed in fancy black pants and a white dress shirt underneath a red vest immediately greeted them with a friendly bow.

"Think you can handle parking my little baby, buddy?" Axel asked as he got out of the car followed shortly by Sora with the keys still in the ignition and keeping the engine running. He then added in a teasing but serious tone, "She's not meant to be bumped around or anything like that, so you better not let me catch her with some scratches that weren't there before or a suddenly increased mileage."

"I'll see to it that she arrives to her intended parking destination without any problems, sir," the valet responded in a professional manner before entering the car and proceeding to park it wherever it was he was designated to park it at.

"Well, time to get the show on the road," the red haired man said after taking a deep breath and walking through the open doors where more fancily dressed people were waiting in a line to enter the party. "You better not blow it, Sora. I'm not about to be publicly embarrassed because of you trying something so obvious and stupid. And I'm not going to help you out if you get caught by the guards, so you better be damn careful!"

"Just stop worrying and give me an opening to the upper floors," the spiky brown haired teen whispered through clenched teeth as he tried to smile a bit around the fancy people around him. He stopped talking, however, as the line began to slowly move forward.

After a couple of minutes waiting patiently for the line to reach the front, the two finally made it to the secretary's desk that the teen remembered approaching when he first came here. However, the woman behind it was different, so he did not have to worry about being figured out right at the doorway.

"May I see your invitation please?" she asked with a smile just as Axel produced a carefully folded piece of paper that held some kind of symbol on the front. After opening it up and reading the contents, she placed the invitation on top of another pile of used invitations and gestured for the two to enter the doors behind her. "Enjoy the Twilight Town Independence Party, you two."

"Thank you, miss," they both thanked her as they entered a part of the consulate that was totally new to Sora. Then again, the entire building itself was new to him, so he should not have been thinking like he was expecting to see something somewhat familiar.

Once through the open double doors, they were greeted with the sound of music being played by a small orchestra seen playing towards the back of the rather large room. Many lights adorned the room with a huge crystal chandelier in the center of the room giving off and reflecting most of the present light. Along with these lights, the room itself was created with such attention to detail that one would think they were entering a part of a mansion that was meant solely to entertain any guests attending a party. Overall, it was a grand room that totally took the spiky haired teen by surprise.

"You enjoying what you're seeing, kid?" Axel asked in a small whisper as he nodded in greeting at the people that they passed by. "Just do me a favor and try not to look too surprised while you're busy gawking. These guys seem to have some kind of sixth sense in telling who's new to this place, and they'd probably get security down your neck in a heartbeat in an attempt to get you kicked out of here."

"G-Got it!" Sora said as he quickly restructured his face to look like he was simply just returning to a place he knew well while allowing his awe to continue in full force within him. He even greeted some of the party goers that he did not know with a small nod of his head so as to further blend in with the crowd.

"Hey, Axel!" a familiar voice greeted the red haired man, causing both he and the teen to turn towards the source of the sound. "It's great to see you after a while."

"Hey, Hayner!" Axel greeted the familiar blond haired teenage spy with a smile as both her and the teenage banker walked towards him while maneuvering through the great mass of party goers idly talking with one another. He had his right arm in a blue cast elevated by a white sling that was most likely because of the bullet that had been removed from his shoulder. "Glad to hear that you made it out of that problem in one piece."

"Well, I do kind of owe it to Sora here for saving my life even if it really was only an accident," Hayner admitted as he immediately noticed the spiky haired teen and tried to suppress a chuckle upon seeing him wearing the tuxedo with a face of suffering. "Although I never thought I'd see him again wearing a tuxedo like some kind of spiffy businessman and attending a consulate party he has no business being in."

"Trust me; I never intended on coming back here after my first trip," the brown spiky haired teen responded with a sour face while starting to tug at his neck tie again. He then said in a whisper low enough to be heard only by the other, "I'm only back here because I have something to do for Roxas."

"Mind letting me in on what this plan of his is?" the blond haired teen asked as he nodded his head over to a spot in the large room that was fairly unoccupied and making his way there. "I'd like to know what my best buddy is planning this time. That and I'd like to know whether or not I'll be able to help out here."

"Well, I'll just give you the short version like I did with Axel since I don't know how much time I'll need and how long this party will last," the teen began to explain once the three with in a slightly secluded corner and talking amongst themselves. Once comfortable that nobody was eavesdropping on them, the explanation period began. "You see, Roxas said that there's some kind of machine in here on the upper floors that's like a super computer of sorts for you spies. It has information on all spies, both alive and dead, that were once in employment of Twilight Town. Along with this information is the list of people who act as contacts for each individual spy in each world."

"But in order for the plan to work, Sora needs my help to cause a minor distraction so that he can go up those guarded stairs," Axel continued on as this was most likely the point where he came into the plan. "That and he also needed a security bypass box so that the data stream moving out of the consulate computers won't be detected. I just happened to know where to get one without garnering too much suspicion, and I set it up to a certain time for tomorrow evening. If nobody ends up catching this kid up in the upper floors, then the plan to get Roxas back here should take off without a hitch."

"Gee, that sounds pretty complicated and daring," Hayner responded with a bewildered sigh after hearing the explanation in a nutshell. He then asked Sora in a concerned tone, "Do you really think that you'd be able to pull all of that off on your own without making any mistakes? There are so many things that you have to get right as well as so many ways that you could get caught in the process. There's no window for mistakes whatsoever here. Why don't you let one of us handle it?"

"Because we might end up getting called upon by one of the partygoers here who know we're around here somewhere," the red haired teen explained as he turned his head around in a casual fashion to make sure they were still in their own private circle. "We can't use the bathroom excuse since we have no idea how long we'll be gone. That and our boss might be wanting to ask us of something important and wandering around the whole party looking for us. Sora's the only one who nobody around here knows about, so he's the safest bet to do anything. We can only hope that he gets extremely stupid lucky."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence in me, Axel," Sora responded sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. However, he was really worried inside and wondering just how was he going to pull something as crazy as this off without getting caught by security or even killed in the process. "At least you managed to give me a rough map of what you remember of the third floor I have to go to so I can avoid trouble and secretly get to that super computer thing."

"Mind if I took a quick look at it?" Hayner asked as he held out his good arm towards the brown spiky haired teen. "Maybe I'll be able to add something more or better to whatever plan you have set up already."

Wordlessly obliging, the brown spiky haired teen brought one of his hands into his tuxedo's inner coat pocket and pulled out a neatly folded white piece of paper. He then unwrapped it and gave it to the spy to look over. He then added, "Just make sure you don't do anything to ruin it or anything. That's the only map I have of the third floor, and I don't have time to be making another copy."

"…It looks pretty much what I remember, but you're forgetting about the window that's situated in the back of that computer room," the blond haired teen spy stated as he studied the crude map carefully. "I remember going to the roof of this place with Roxas once, and there's a ledge more than big enough for a person to walk on around the third floor windows. If you slowly slide down the roof just over it and don't make too much noise, then you shouldn't be detected by the guards. And from what I remember passing by that particular room and looking in a couple of times, the guards just stay in the front room while the computer is left all by itself in the back."

"That's something he didn't put in his description," the teen stated as he looked at Axel with an accusatory look as if he purposefully left out that crucial detail before taking the paper and folding back up. "You should've heard what he suggested I do before I talked to you about it. He said that he wanted me to cause a big distraction just outside the office door and then sneak in once they came out."

"And what if they had decided to scope out both sides of the hallway at the same time?" the blond spy asked with an annoyed look at his fellow partner. "There'd be no way he could get in, and he'd only get caught in the process."

"Hey, it's not like I knew about that window like you did, so don't go blaming me for bad ideas," the older spy defended himself from being marked as the bearer of potentially deadly misinformation. "I'm just trying to make sure that my buddy gets home safely while making sure his messenger boy here doesn't get into too much trouble."

"Well, at least the two of you together ended up creating a plan that I should be able to pull off so long as I don't start fooling around," the only non-spy of the group said with a shrug of his shoulders while tucking the paper back into his inner tuxedo pocket. "If it ends up not working with your combined effort, though, then I'll personally come to kill you if and when I get out of jail."

"Then let's hope that ship doesn't come around and bite us in the butt," Hayner said as he started to push Sora away and towards the direction of where the stairs were on the other side of the room. "Now hurry up and get yourself ready while we try to find some way to distract the guards."

And before he could say anything in argument, the spiky haired teen felt another pair of arms pushing him away just as a lock of flaming red hair blurred past his vision. He then saw Axel quickly yet gracefully maneuvering his way through the crowd over to the guards keeping watch over the stairs.

_I guess spies always have to be rushing like this when time really matters,_ the teen thought as he tried to make his way through the crowd that did not seem to disperse as it did for the red haired spy. _Just another reason why I really don't want to consider being a spy anywhere in the near future._

As he continued to muse within the inner workings of his mind, he continued to sometimes lightly shove through the crowd in a forceful manner because they refused to move. All the while, the small orchestra continued to play its soothing music that some couples were dancing to in the middle of the dance floor.

"Well, I thought it was you I saw in the distance," an old man's voice suddenly said as the teen felt a hand on his arm and stopping him in his tracks. "I never thought that I'd see you again during a party as important as this."

_That better not be who I think I'm hearing right now,_ Sora thought as the back of his mind began ringing with that sense of familiarity as he processed the old voice in his head. Turning around, he was greeted with the familiar old frail body of the man he had talked to when he first came to the consulate for the first time, Mr. Xehanort Hakujou.

"Why, it's a pleasure to meet you again, Mr Hakujou!" the teen greeted the old man in as happy of a tone he could muster after being both startled and scared at the same time. He then added in an attempt to come up with a quick excuse, "To be perfectly honest, I was invited here by one of my friends who got an invitation since he worked as…an unspeakable job description for Twilight Town. He bought me into coming here by saying that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I just couldn't pass up the chance of being in such a grand building once more celebrating one of its great holidays."

"I'm glad to hear it, Mr. Hikari," Xehanort said with a smile that seemed to hold some kind of hidden meaning behind it. "It's not every day that somebody as young as you would care about the history of another world enough to participate in their customs. If you don't mind, however, do you think you can tell me who this friend of yours who invited you over is? Perhaps I know this person."

"I believe you do, Mr. Hakujou," Hayner's voice suddenly stated, this time managing to startle the old man a bit from the suddenness. Turning around, he saw the blond teen and thus let his grip on Sora go. "You see, I'm Sora's friend who ended up bugging him to the point that he'd want to come. He's a history buff kind of guy, so I figured this would be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him. And yes, I trusted him enough to tell him about my current occupation with Twilight Town."

"Ah, it's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Ryoshou," the old man greeted the young spy before casting his gaze back to the brown spiky haired teen. "So Mr. Hikari is your friend? I wouldn't have guessed it."

"Well, he said that he was going to the bathroom, so I found it funny that he was spending time talking to you," Hayner responded coolly without any hesitation whatsoever. All Sora could do was quietly listen in on the excuse the spy was expertly executing for him. "But yeah, don't forget that the bathroom is just on the other side of the room, Sora. Hope your stomach ache doesn't turn out to be something serious."

"Uh, y-yeah," he responded dumbly with a nod of his head before turning around towards the direction of the stairs with the distraction the blond had provided him with.

_God, where the hell did that old man come from?_ he thought while continuing his way towards the stairs without looking back so as to not garner any suspicions. _It was like he was waiting in the shadows for me to make a wrong move or something._

At that moment, he was felt well-covered by the crowd enough to chance a look back at where he left Hayner and Xehanort. Sure enough, the blond spy was keeping the old man engaged in conversation and his attention away from where he was right now headed. He then quickly whipped his head towards the stairs upon hearing a commotion that was relatively quiet in noise when compared to the boisterous atmosphere of the party.

"Are you alright, sir?" one of the guards asked as he was seen moving away from his post by the stairs, leaving only one left to watch it all.

"Damn, can't believe I managed to trip over the stupid stair step!" the voice of Axel was heard saying in what was most likely a feign injured tone while probably performing his distraction. He was then seen getting up and saying, "I'm fine, though. I was just being stupid clumsy, is all."

And before anybody could react, the red haired man fell towards the second guard still standing watch in a way that made it look like he tripped over his own feet. At this time, one guard was now being crushed by Axel and trying to get up while the other one was trying to help both of them get up. This was the small window of time where the stairs were unguarded and ripe for sneaking by.

_That's his idea of causing a distraction?_ Sora thought with a small shake of his head before quickly yet casually walking up the now unguarded stairs without stopping. _Either way, he managed to get me up here, so I better not waste this chance. I just hope that I'll be able to get everything right on my own from here on out._

And with that last worried thought running through his head, he made it to the second floor landing that was well-protected from view from any of the partygoers on the first floor. He then breathed out a sigh of relief before heading down the thankfully barren hallway where he remembered his rough map telling him would soon lead to another set of stairs that would lead to the third floor and ultimately to his destination.

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><p>Well, I hope that you all liked this new chapter. Isn't it strange that Xehanort just suddenly decided to show up and want to strike up a conversation with Sora? It seems a little bit too convenient if you ask me. Yes, I'm writing the story, but even I don't know where it's going. Thank god for the new friends he's made while on this improvised spy mission helping him out. Now all he has to do is sneak around the upper floors to his goal and not get caught. Just how hard can that be?<p>

Please don't forget to leave a review before you leave as to how you thought this chapter was and any kind of suggestions or improvements you think are needed. While I do write my story how I like it, I always take the comments to consideration since they do sometimes end up helping me come up with future ideas for the story or help me locate errors that I did not know I made.

Here's a short character bio that's meant to update the characters in this story more than anything else.

Hayner Ryoshou: 19 (A young spy who suffered from a gunshot wound to the shoulder during a meeting at the harbor with Sora. He has since got a cast and sling on his arm and is now attending the Twilight Town Independence Day party."

Axel Karyuu: 25 (A spy with flaming red hair who helped Roxas earn a job as a spy himself. He has agreed to help Sora sneak into the upper floors of the Twilight Town Consulate in order to help Roxas hack into the super computer in there and figure out the name of his contact in Twilight Town.)

Xehanort Hakujou: 65 (An old man who works at the Twilight Town Consulate. He's currently attending the Twilight Town Independence party, but he seemed to have some kind of suspicions about Sora that he cleverly hid behind a warm and friendly smile.)

And that's it with the character updates. Again, it's really just telling you all a recap of what's going on with all of them, so it's nothing really important unless you got confused on how each of them are supposed to be right now.

Anyway, don't forget to try and read my other new horror genre story if you're interested. It's called, "The Curse of Destati Communion Elementary", and it's an M rated story because of the kind of gory and graphic details I have to put into it in order for it to be horror and tragedy. And please spread the word of it to your friends if you like it since everybody is most likely used to me just writing T rated stories and don't know that this one exists.

Well, I'll go ahead and leave you all to whatever it is that you're planning on doing next. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories, especially for my new one, everybody!


	12. The Consulate's Computer Room

Hello everybody! Sorry for having a very long update. I had a lot of things between the last time I made and update and now being that it was both Christmas and my birthday a couple of days before Christmas. I also made a new story based for Christmas called, "A Mercenary's Christmas Angel", for those of you who are interested in reading it. Yes, it's not Christmas now, but I think it's still a pretty good story to read being that it's also based heavily on friendship.

Anyway, I apologize again for making you all wait. As such, I'm going to give this story a little boost in trying to add more twists into the story. That and I'll also try to put another small humorous portion to it.

This author's note was supposed to have been longer, but the saving process for it went crazy and erased it all. So sorry to all of you who feel that this was quite short and also sounding a bit frustrated at the same time. They really have to work on making sure the saving mechanism stops acting up like that.

Anyway, I hope that you all like this new chapter as much as I had making it. Until the next update to this or one of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 12: The Consulate's Computer Room<strong>

_I really hope things end up going well up here,_ Sora thought with a small frown as he found a couple of semi-large potted plants near the stairs and chose to hide behind it for the time being. He needed to gather his thoughts in order so he would be able to execute the plan Axel and Hayner had laid out for him without any deadly hitches and did not want to get caught out in the open while doing it. Thank god they were healthy and bushy in nature and provided good coverage from where they were situated. _Last thing I need is to lose what little I have under my name by getting caught and thrown in jail for this. I so don't want to be rotting away in a jail cell and hanging out with actual criminals anytime soon._

With a deep breath that he soon let out into a silent sigh, the spiky haired teen took caution to view his surroundings for any guards before leaving his cover behind the plants. He memorized from earlier that basic hallway layout of the second floor he was currently on, so he knew where he had to go. The only problem now was making sure he was not caught by any of the guards that might be on this floor in the process.

Amazingly, the entire floor seemed to have been devoid of any life whatsoever save for himself and a few plants here and there. All of the simple brown wooden doors that lined the hallways were closed and most likely locked. There was either nothing of great importance on this floor to garner much protection, or the planners of tonight's party felt that the two guards placed on the ground floor stairwell leading up here would be more than enough protection. Oh, how he and the two spies helping him out with this plan prove the party security planners badly wrong on this.

After spending less than a minute carefully traversing through the empty hallway, Sora found himself facing the set of stairs leading up to the third floor where he needed to be. Making sure that nobody was on the top of the stairs just standing around or about to come down themselves, he quietly made his way up each step while trying to avoid any kind of noise that would alert anybody nearby. Thankfully, the stairs and the area around it were also pretty much empty and proved to be a simple and easy climb. However, he noticed once he reached the top a door wide open in front of him with voices coming out from it.

_I hope I don't have to go through there,_ he thought before spotting another set of potted bushy plants and quickly hiding behind it. He then decided to take out his crude map and see where he had to go to next. _…Great, that just happens to be the room where that super computer is being kept. Good thing I don't have to go with Axel's crazy plan since I doubt it'd work in this case. Now I just need to find a way to the roof like Hayner suggested. I think he said the door leading to the roof is down this hallway._

After examining the map for a few seconds, he quickly stuffed it into his dress pants pocket and scanned the hallways before leaving the safety of his hiding spot. He then quickly but carefully made his way down the hallway towards a door that he remembered the blond haired spy saying was marked as the access to the roof. He soon came across a door that had the word roof etched into it and quickly opened it and entered yet another stairwell leading up to the roof before he got caught. Thankfully, the roof was just as empty as the hallways, so he did not really have to be too secretive or quiet now.

_Now I just need to make sure I pick the right window to sneak through and not get caught or kill myself by falling to the ground below in the process,_ he thought as he neared another door atop the stairs, this time a metal door, and quickly opened it. He was soon greeted with the cool brisk air of the winter night hitting his cheeks as he was now on the roof of the consulate with the entire hallway ordeal now behind him. _I just hope nobody's up here taking a smoke or anything like that._

After making sure that nobody was on the roof, a feat easily performed since there were basically no visual obstructions in the way, he closed the door and quickly made his way towards the side of the building. He made a mental map of the doors he passed from the third floor stairs to the door leading up here, so all he had to do was count the windows and hope for the best. With that in mind, he looked over the side and began counting the windows. He soon reached a certain number and made his way over said window.

_Now all I have to do is climb over this wall and hope I don't either fall to my doom,_ he thought with a small audible whimper as he mentally took note that the side of the building he was on seemed more like an alleyway on the ground than part of the main road or front entrance. _This is definitely not what I signed up for._

With another worried whimper, Sora began to climb over the wall that served as a sort of protection against people falling from the roof. Funny how he was now completely defeating that very purpose all for the sake of sneaking into one room. At least Hayner was right when he said that there was a ledge just large enough for a person to walk across somewhat comfortably on. Now if only he could land on it without falling…

Once he was on top of the barrier, the teen began to slowly inch his way over to the edge, his left foot now hanging over nothing with his knee quickly following suit. With a scared whimper, he felt his whole left leg sink down a bit and thus dragging his right side with it. Unfortunately, it was a bit too quick for his liking and he began to panic. This, in turn, caused the rest of his body to fall over to the edge.

"Yikes!" he squeaked out in surprise as he held onto the edge of the barrier for dear life and had his upper arms lying flat against the top of the barrier. His feet were flailing around for anything he could use to get some footing and felt the tips of his toes brushing against the ledge. With a shuddering breath, he tentatively inched even further down and felt the bottoms of his dress shoes flattening onto the ledge. Once they were firmly flat, his hands were practically just hanging onto the edge of the barrier as more of balancing means.

_I think I just got a new fear for heights now!_ he thought with bunches of short and shuddering breaths as he bit at his bottom lip to keep himself from screaming in fright. _I just need to open up this damn window and get off this ledge._

Without wasting any precious time and just wanting to be somewhere safe, he carefully bent down towards the window next to him and tried to pull it upwards in an attempt to open it up. Amazingly, it was unlocked and opened up with the greatest of ease. Without even bothering to see if anybody was inside, he quickly slipped inside without letting his feet make any noise against the ground.

_Roxas had better appreciate everything I'm doing for him here!_ Sora thought as his body shook off the immense fear he felt in the past few seconds. _I almost died just trying to sneak in here! I swear; I'm never going to consider being a spy any day even if they paid me a million bucks a year!_

Once his mind had calmed down, he allowed his eyes to finally take in the sights of the room he was in. Thankfully, it was devoid of any people, so he did not have to worry about some person or security just staring at him like he were some kind of robber or enemy spy. What he did notice, however, were a bunch of computers in the room making a bunch of annoying beeping noises. They all looked like the Destiny Island International Bank's computers except they seemed to be working without any human aid. They flashed with streams of data that were rapidly appearing on the screen and impossible to even discern before just as quickly disappearing from visual existence.

He then saw one computer that stood out from the rest. While the computer monitor itself looked just like the others, there was a big piece of machinery it was hooked up to that seemed to be the main hub of everything. It took up a lot of room and was thus tucked away at the corner, but there was an opening underneath the table where the computer was mounted that also was laced with many colorful buttons that no doubt influenced whatever was going to happen with the computer.

_I guess that's the computer Roxas wants me to tap into for him,_ Sora thought as he examined the great piece of machinery. _He did say that it was going to stand out among the others. Now where's that bypass box Axel gave me?_

Before he could go ahead and dig in his tuxedo for said box, he heard a doorknob being jiggled from the other side. Without thinking, he made his way towards the door and hid behind it just as it was opened.

"Honestly, you're acting like a man turned old and completely helpless!" a woman's voice was heard saying in a teasing tone from the room outside. Oddly enough, it sounded very much like the voice he heard when he was meeting Hayner at the harbor, but he was not overly sure on it. "I could've opened that door in less than half the time you did!"

"Need I remind you that I have a temporarily dead arm and a half-functioning hand right now, Ms. Foudre?" another voice, this time a man's, snapped back in an irritated tone. This one was a voice that he clearly remembered from one of the most harrowing moments of his young life. It belonged to the very same man who had tried to kidnap him after he left Roxas's apartment two nights ago! "I think I'm entitled to be acting just a little bit like an old man right now because of my unfortunate condition."

"The only real unfortunate thing about this whole ordeal of yours is that you actually got beat by a simple little kid who doesn't know anything about the real world," the woman known as Ms. Foudre responded with a strong hint of annoyance. The teenager still hiding behind the door vaguely remembered hearing that same name from when he had first visited the consulate. "How do you manage to both crash the taxi you hijacked and lose sight of the kid at the same time? I thought you said you were some kind of great spy back in the day. And I told you to just call me by my first name, Larxene!"

"Even the best of us can't keep our eyes on the mark at all times," the man responded as the color of his black suit just barely entered within Sora's line of vision. "This includes when we're busy driving and trying not to unnecessarily crash into something or someone. And besides, how the hell was I supposed to know he was actually hiding something in that flimsy jacket of his? I swear; I'm going to make that boy pay for all the damage he's done to me. My head still rings from when he struck me."

"Whatever, Vexen," the girl called Larxene responded in a tone that sounded like she was brushing it all off. "You're just too proud to admit that you royally screwed up one of the simplest jobs that even I could've done. If it were me out there, I would've first made him take off his jacket to make sure he didn't have anything hidden."

"Knowing you, you'd probably also make him take off the rest of his clothes and have you way with him while still keeping him at gunpoint," the man named Vexen responded with a hint of disgust in his words. "And please address me as Mr. Floe. It's only proper since I'm both older than you and higher up in the working ladder. In fact, the only reason you managed to land yourself a job as a Twilight Town spy and thus become a mole is because of your great talent, something that I say with great disdain, to seduce men to the point that they can't make any rational decisions no matter their current situation."

"It's worth it in the end if it can keep them from calling in their entourage of men for help or if they're hiding something important from me," Larxene responded in a tone that made it sound like she was trying to put justification behind her proposed actions deemed unfavorable by the other. "And you can actually manage to get away with it without any problems whatsoever when it's all over. Even you have to admit that it's very effective in getting information from even the most tight lipped of men."

"I still say that using your womanly charms and ultimately your body isn't a good way to be gathering information," Vexen responded in that same disdainful tone as his footsteps were heard heading back towards the door. "If you ask me, you might as well be participating in prostitution. If you're not killed by a bullet aimed at you, then you're going to die a slow and painful death via potential diseases."

"As if participating in gunfights with the enemy while trying to drive a car in busy highway at the same time isn't just as dangerous," she was heard countering before the door slammed shut and thus muffling their voices to the point that Sora could not hear them. At last, he was alone in the room once more.

_Wow, I didn't think anybody would come in right now!_ he thought as he let out a very heavy sigh of relief before peeling himself off from the wall he was pasted against. He was still breathing heavily from the ordeal, but he was otherwise alright and able to at least move without suffering from weak knees. _Talk about having your close calls. I'm just lucky this Vexen guy didn't decide to look behind this door and the woman didn't come in with him. I can only imagine the trouble I'd be in if they found me._

_ But just what the hell is that guy who tried to kidnap me doing here in a consulate?_ he continued to think as he decided to make his stay in this room as short as possible before he ended up getting caught. He went straight for the big computer and crouched down so he could easily see what was underneath the opening underneath the computer. He was greeted with a bunch of wires plugged into the table with ports still left unused. _From what I heard him saying, he works with the people here as a member of the spy organization. Why in the world would a spy want to go through all this trouble to kill me when I'm trying to help them save one of their own? It doesn't make any sense._

As these thoughts continued to race around in his already swirling head, he tried to remember the instructions Axel had given him for installing the security bypass box. With it in his hand, he began to connect the wires on the box to the computer in whatever available spots there were. He also made sure that they were in the correct colored slots so as to make sure the whole thing ended up working.

_God, I hope I'm not doing anything wrong here. Last thing I need is to be electrocuted or make some kind of alarm go off and start rushing in here. Axel had better be right in telling me how to install this stupid bypass box._

After about a minute's worth of fiddling around with the wiring, he was greeted with the sight of the box suddenly showing three numbers. It was clearly revealing a certain time by the way a colon was placed between the first and second number. In red, the numbers read five minutes after seven, a time just past when Roxas usually contacted Sora. This showed that he had finished installing the box.

_I doubt anybody would be able to see this box since it's practically covered by all this wiring,_ Sora thought as he stood up and admired his handiwork. He took a few steps back and decided to lean against another table housing the other regular computer monitors. _And if everything goes well, Roxas should be home sooner rather than later._

Before he could continue on with his track of happy thoughts, he heard something that was akin to a machine starting up. In the next moment, he felt something tugging at the edges of his tuxedo coat and quickly bringing him down.

"What the…?" he exclaimed, catching his tone of voice just in time and saying it in a raspy whisper. When he looked to see what was going on, he noticed the coat was caught in some kind of machine that looked a lot like a paper shredder. Sure enough, parts of the fabric that went through started to have the quality of shredded paper.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he growled out as he started to tug at his coat in an attempt to get it out. Unfortunately, all that managed to do was force it to make an unusual noise that was loud and possibly garner unwanted attention. "This can't be happening right now! I need to get out of here!"

As he continued to try and get himself free from the machine, he slowly felt his back being pulled closer towards the desk where it was situated. It was clear that it was not going to let up anytime soon and would even take a chunk out of the teen if it came to it. He back was soon touching the desk, and his upper arms started to have a tightening feel to them from the coat still being tugged into the machine.

After a few more moments of fighting what seemed to have been a losing battle between man and machine, the teen's tuxedo coat finally let out a loud ripping sound before he finally felt the tugging feeling stop and the pressure that was pulling him towards the desk all but disappear. However, whatever was still left in the shredder was quickly shredded with a loud noise that sounded like it was about to be jammed.

_Geez, since when did people thought it good to be putting shredder machines in a room full of computers?_ he thought with an aggravated sigh before examining his now torn tuxedo coat that exposed the bottom portion of his white shirt. _What kind of papers do they have here that they would need to shred?_

Just then, he heard something that sounded a whole lot like printing going on behind him. Turning around, he saw the computer he was just fiddling around with showing off some data at an insanely fast pace. At the same time, a long strip of paper was spewing out of the big machine next to it at a pace faster than a standard printer. Apparently, it was recording on paper whatever was being posted on the computer.

_Guess that answers my question,_ he thought with a bitter frown before hearing the doorknob jiggling again. And just as he did before, he made a mad dash for the back of the door and hid there just as it was opened.

"I don't understand why this computer always has to record whatever information it receives every single hour," the voice of Vexen was heard muttering under his breath in an annoyed fashion as his footsteps stopped presumably in front of the stream of paper. "These things hardly spit out anything of importance. And even if it did, it's not like I'd be able to do anything about it."

"And yet it was just a stroke of luck that you happened to check that same machine on the day it spat out information about you being a mole planted inside Twilight Town intelligence," Larxene was heard replying from wherever she was in the other room in a nonchalant manner. "And it happened to have been a message being fed into the machine by our wonderful little spy who managed to get in contact with that naïve teenager you failed to bring to our boss. It's thanks to you that our boss managed to locate and kill off that annoying Xion character and her trusted contact before they escaped from Twilight Town and came back here. It's just too bad she died before she could tell us where Roxas was hiding."

"Knowing our boss, he should be able to come up with a plan to get around that," the man replied as the sound of paper being torn and loaded into the shredder reached Sora's ears. "After all, he's already got a couple of other plans ready to be put in action that revolve around his only trusted connection to these islands. We just need to get in within our grasps and force him to tell us his key code. How hard could it be to do that? He'd probably break after spending just two minutes torturing him."

"Or you could just let me have my way with him and bring his brain to the point where he doesn't even know what he's talking about," Larxene suggested with a strong seductive streak to her words. "It sounds easier and a lot more fun."

"A lot more fun for you, but more work and forced patience on the rest of us," Vexen replied in a tone that one could easily see being accompanied with an annoyed eye roll. The sound of footsteps walking back towards the door was soon heard just before the door swung shut once more that night.

_So Xion's dead, huh?_ Sora thought as he allowed what he had just heard to settle down in his swirling brain. _I've only known Axel for a day at most, but I doubt he'd believe me if I told him. Roxas probably would, although that's a long shot since he kind of seemed hopeful that she'd still be alive._

_ But still, I think I should be more concerned about myself right now,_ he continued on with his train of thought as he quickly made his way to the window and looked through it to see if there was any way to escape. _How the heck am I going to get out of here with those two most likely still standing out there?_

As he was busy trying to figure out a way out of the room while still searching out of the window, he failed to hear the door opening behind him. It was only until he heard the click of the locking mechanism from when the door closed that he figured out somebody else had entered the room and turned around to see who it was.

"I took a guess that you'd probably be stuck in here," Hayner, who had somehow made his way into the room, responded in a low whisper as he looked at the very startled Sora. "I only guessed that after you went upstairs. Looks like I came right on time."

"Geez, do you have to sneak up on me like that, Hayner?" the brown haired teen exclaimed in a harsh whisper in case the other two were still outside. "I thought I got caught by one of those guys outside."

"I don't think you have to worry about them for now," the blond spy responded with a cheeky smile as he spoke in his normal tone. "I just got up here under the guise of wanting to check something in their office as they were both leaving saying something about having to quickly talk to someone about something. I did have something else in mind to get whoever happened to have been up here away, but I guess that's I don't need it now. So come on; let's get out of here before somebody catches me in here with you."

"No need to tell me twice on that," the other stated as he quickly walked up to the spy as he opened the door for both of them to get out. "I've had just about enough close calls that I can handle here tonight. You have no idea how I almost got caught twice being in here. I'm just lucky they were stupid enough to not go about checking the back of the door I was hiding behind. I guess they were too cocky to think that anybody could sneak in here."

"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't really like those two," Hayner admitted with a frown as he walked over to the doorway leading to the hallway in the office area to make sure nobody was walking around before signaling that it was safe to move. "I can't help but to feel something off about them both."

"Well, I did hear a rather interesting conversation between them both while they were checking up on the computers," Sora said as he took off his coat and folded it in a way that it did not look like it was torn apart at the bottom. "I'm sure you'd be more than amazed once I tell you about it."

"How about you save it until after the party's over? I still need to be here since I promised Mr. Hakujou that I'd continue on with our conversation when I returned from the bathroom. Thankfully, Axel stepped in to talk to him as a form of distraction, but I doubt that he'll be able to hold it much longer. And don't worry about your tuxedo; just pretend you got it wet with a bathroom faucet mishap and didn't want to wear it with a wet stain on it," the teen spy added as he addressed the fact that he did in fact saw how the coat was ripped. "I'm not even going to ask how you managed to rip it."

"You probably wouldn't believe me on that even if I explained it to you a thousand times," the brown haired teen explained with an audible groan as they quickly made their way back to the first floor where the party was still going on. And when they arrived at the first floor staircase landing, the teen banker suddenly remembered that he was not supposed to have been past these stairs in the first place and that the guards would probably ask him why was here there. Instead of that, however, they simply allowed him to pass right on by without any questions whatsoever.

Thanking his lucky stars that they did not ask him anything, they went back to the spot where Hayner had last left Axel and Xehanort and continued on with whatever it was they were talking about. While the old man gave Sora a suspicious glance that lasted less than a second, he smiled at him with a nod and asked if he was okay since he spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom. He simply gave a quick excuse that he had a stomach ache and just continued on with trying to keep up appearance while making sure to not act nervous about his tuxedo coat draped over his arm and covering how it had been badly damaged.

This was definitely one of the really crazy days he had ever had since he started helping Roxas find his way back home, and he was more than eager to want to go home and get some rest. Unfortunately, he still had to tell Hayner and most likely Axel about the conversation he heard take place in the computer room between Larxene and Vexen, the man he was more than sure tried to kidnap him. Because of that, he was forced to survive the otherwise boring party and try to hold his own in a conversation with Xehanort and the others. That and Axel was his only ride home without garnering too much suspicion, so leaving on his own was completely out of the question.

* * *

><p>Well, things are certainly taking a turn for the interesting. Now we know that Xion, Roxas's partner when they first went to Twilight Town, is dead courtesy of Vexen, a mole planted into the Twilight Town Consulate, telling his boss that he received a message saying she was trying to return home. And Larxene, the woman Sora had met less than briefly when he first visited the consulate, is also working with the mole and seems to have some unfortunately devious plans of torture planned for the spiky haired teen. Just how is he going to survive however long he needs to survive before Roxas can safely come back home? Hopefully, tomorrow will grant them both a victory they deserve after all of this.<p>

Anyway, let me get to the character bios of the characters that are important to this story and have been introduced nicely in this chapter. I'm also giving an update to one of the characters so as to have you all know where they're at now in terms of the story.

Sora Hikari: 18 (A teenage banker who had just infiltrated the Twilight Town Consulate in order to plant a security bypass box in the computer room. While in there, he managed to overhear a conversation between two people in the room just beyond.)

Vexen Floe: 45 (a man who was heard having retired from the spy business, but it doesn't seem to be the case right now. Overheard in conversation, he says to be a mole planted within the Twilight Town Consulate for some reason not explained.)

Larxene Foudre: 30 (a blond haired woman Sora remembered seeing very briefly when he first visited the consulate. Apparently, she's working with the mole as overheard in a conversation between the two in the room next to the consulate's computer room.)

Just to say, the word floe is, as far as I know, an English word for ice in respect to Vexen's ability to use ice attacks in the video game. And for those of you who don't remember, Foudre is french for lightning in respect to Larxene's ability to use lightning that was real hard to dodge at times in the Chain of Memories Remix game. That's pretty much it for the last name translations.

Well, I hope that you all ended up liking this new chapter as much as I had writing it out for you all to read. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story you want to read. They are always very helpful in seeing how the readers are taking my story and all that. Until the next update to this or one of my other stories everybody!


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